The 2021 summer looks set to be a very interesting period for Bristol City, with Nigel Pearson's future still up in the air.

Assuming he stays at Ashton Gate, Pearson will get a chance to flex his muscles in the transfer market for the first time as Robins boss – having taken charge after the winter window had closed.

Given his promotion experience and Premier League pedigree, you feel that the club hierarchy will need to back him quite significantly to give him the best chance of taking them to the top flight.

City dealt mostly in loans and free transfers last summer but with fans expected back in stadiums soon, the club may be looking to spend more this time around.

Previous Robins signings are our focus today, in fact, we're looking at their 10 most expensive arrivals and examining what they are up to now and where they are doing it.

City spent £2.5 million to sign the Icelandic defender from Juventus in July 2016.

Magnusson was comfortable at both left-back and centre-back but may be best remembered for his long throw and supporters' adoption of the Icelandic clap whenever he wound up for one.

The 28-year-old left Ashton Gate in July 2018 with the Robins selling him to CSKA Moscow for a reported fee of €2.5 million (£2.15m) and he remains at the club to this day.

Magnusson has already surpassed his appearances tally for City (61) with the Russian club, featuring 88 times for them and winning the Russian Super Cup in 2018/19.

The defender has been a mainstay in the starting XI this term.

The mercurial playmaker produced some dazzling moments in a City shirt but went missing in a fair few games as well.

The South West club paid £3 million to bring Tomlin to Ashton Gate from Bournemouth in July 2016 on the back of an impressive loan spell the previous season.

He never quite rediscovered the quality he showed in his initial spell at City and left to join rivals Cardiff City in 2017.

He's fared similarly with the Bluebirds and has had some real ups and downs in the Welsh capital – though he was integral to them reaching the play-offs last term.

Tomlin has featured just five times this season.

The first of two strikers that the Championship club signed from French outfit SCO Angers in a two-year period, the Robins spent £3.25 million on Kodjia when they brought him to Bs3 in the summer of 2015.

The Ivory Coast international quickly proved worth every penny, firing in 19 goals in his debut season at Ashton Gate and then being sold to Aston Villa for a fairly significant profit in 2016.

Kodjia spent three and a half seasons at Villa Park, helping them secure promotion to the top flight, before leaving to join Qatar Stars League club Al-Gharafa SC last January.

He's shown his quality for them, scoring seven goals in the second half of last season and finding the net 10 times so far in 2020/21.

Palmer impressed while on loan from Chelsea in the second half of the 2018/19 campaign, so much so that City signed him permanently the following summer.

It cost them £3.5 million to make him a Robins player in August 2019 but it's not been plain sailing since.

Palmer has struggled to get a consistent run in the side and show his quality in more than just glimpses, though it seems Pearson is keen to make him a key man.

Having returned from loan at Swansea City in January, the attacking midfielder has been a regular in the starting XI under the new Robins boss – something fans will hope can bring out the best in him.

Another player whose time at Ashton Gate lasted just one season before the Robins cashed in on him, the £3.6 million that City spent on Webster in 2018 proved a very shrewd bit of business.

The central defender quickly became a key figure in Lee Johnson's side and producing some dominant displays in the Championship.

The Premier League came calling in August 2019 and Webster was sold to Brighton, the club which he remains at now.

Injuries have hampered his time at the Amex a little but when fit, he's been a regular in the Seagulls' first team.

At his best, Baker has been an absolute rock for the Robins – a proper old school, no-nonsense centre-back and of the quality that illustrates why the South West club spent £4 million to sign him from Aston Villa in 2017.

The issue has been staying fit, with Baker missing long periods of his time in Bs3 due to injury problems.

He's not featured once for City this term but Pearson revealed recently he is on his way back to full fitness, so we may well see him before 2020/21 is up.

Baker's current contract is set to expire in the summer, so the club are going to have a decision to make over whether to hold onto the defender or let him walk away as a free agent.

The most recent arrival on this list, City signed Wells from Burnley last January, with Josh Brownhill going the opposite way that same month, as they looked to bolster their forward options.

The striker cost a reported £5 million, having been in fantastic form while on loan at QPR through the first half of last season.

He's yet to really show his best consistently for the South West club but is still been one of their key attacking contributors this term and seems to be a key part of Pearson's plans.

Hopefully, that means that he can get back to being his lethal best in front of goal.

One of Wells' current forward colleagues is number three on our list.

City spent £5.3 million to sign Diedhiou from SCO Angers in 2017, the second striker they'd bought from the French club in three years after Kodjia joined from there.

Diedhiou was the Robins record signing when he arrived at Ashton Gate and though early on he was a controversial figure, his performances in the 2019/20 campaign made him a popular man in Bs3.

The striker finished as City's top scorer that term and was named their player of the season but his future now looks uncertain.

Diedhiou's contract is set to expire in the summer and he's yet to sign a new one, meaning he may be off soon.

The Frenchman was something of a leftfield signing when City paid Monaco £7.2 million for him back in 2019, spending some of the cash they'd received for the sale of Adam Webster.

Making an 18-year-old their second-most expensive signing of all time was a bold move and you feel the jury is still out on whether it was the right one.

He showed glimpses of his talent in his debut season but chances have been harder to come by this term.

That said, Massengo appears to have impressed Pearson recently and could be set for a run in the side moving forward.

The City captain is at the top of this list as it cost them £8 million to sign him permanently from Chelsea in July 2019.

Kalas had starred while on loan at the Robins the previous season, forming a formidable centre-back partnership with Adam Webster.

Unlike Webster, he remains a City player and was given the captaincy by Dean Holden in the summer.

The central defender has been excellent for the South West club this season and looks set to be someone that Pearson will build his defence around.

He was forced off in the defeat to Rotherham United on the weekend due to injury, which will be a concern given he's had his issues in the past.