Birmingham City have been used to getting things their own way in this transfer window, but a report from Birmingham Live suggests they may be about to suffer a major transfer blow.
As expected, the Blues have had a decent start to the season, with four points from three matches. An 82nd-minute strike by Willum Willumsson gave them victory against Wycombe Wanderers this weekend, 3-2, with Alfie May on the scoresheet early on in that game.
They’ve been trying to get some support for May over the summer, and the player they have identified is Jay Stansfield, the England Under 21 striker who scored 13 times for them last time out. They’ve reportedly been willing to break the League One transfer record to secure the young Fulham striker, but a deal has not happened.
When asked on Saturday about a possible deal, Blues boss Chris Davies said, “There’s no update from my side. He’s obviously a player that did excellently here last season and a very good player and that’s all there is to it for now.”
Fulham boss Marco Silva made quite a statement in Fulham’s opening day defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League, giving the youngster a brief cameo from the bench, which seemed to scupper Birmingham’s hopes. However, Championship clubs are still circling, with Cardiff City, Hull City, Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers all hoping to take the player on loan.
It seems an old face might now be coming back to haunt Birmingham and kill off their slender chances of signing Stansfield. John Eustace was sacked last season with the club on the cusp of the play-off race, and replaced by Wayne Rooney. Much of the football world felt it a harsh decision, but Eustace bounced back, taking over at Blackburn Rovers. Now, the 44-year-old is reportedly also keen on Stansfield and could offer him a permanent route into the Championship rather than dropping into League One.
It’s believed that Eustace wants to spend some of the Sammie Szmodics cash on Stansfield, and sees him as a player with the potential to help keep them towards the top end of the Championship. The lure of cash for the player might be enough to tempt Fulham into letting him leave.
Writer’s View
This is actually good news for Birmingham in many ways – if Fulham are open to selling for cash, it puts the Blues back in the market. If they wanted a loan, the Championship would be the obvious place to put him, to give him a higher level of football.
That said, it’s tough that a club higher up might wish to buy him – would he rather ply his trade away at Mansfield, or Middlesbrough? It would be a tough choice, given that Birmingham are a huge club, arguably bigger than Blackburn, but the lure of regular second-tier football might be too much.
Still, don’t rule the Blues out of this one just yet.
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