Birmingham City are aiming to break their expensive habit of summer surgery this year, having regained and then consolidated their Championship status. Whether that is fast enough progress for a club whose owners want to race up the football pyramid and reach the Premier League yesterday depends on how reasonable that expectation is considered.
What cannot be denied, however, is that after signing 17 players in the 2024 off-season and another 11 in 2025, Blues' 2026 transfer window will be less frantic. Indeed, Chris Davies has set the bar at around half a dozen, while also hoping to bring Ibrahim Osman and Jhon Solis back to the club for next term.
While Blues need starters in some positions, it is more a question of depth in others, but Davies has been clear in his insistence 'it is quality not quantity'. He says: “We have got to make sure we get them right.”
With that in mind, and as we await publication of the club's released and retained list, BirminghamLive has taken a look at those who are leaving and those who are contracted to stay.
Contracts Ending
Having overhauled their squad in the last two years, there are very few players out of contract. Indeed, Jonathan Panzo, a short-term signing from Rio Ave, is the only senior player whose deal expires next month. The centre back has made nine appearances – and some very good ones, notably against Leeds United and Norwich City – before losing his place in the team. It is difficult to see him remaining a Blues player next season.
Loans Leaving
Blues brought Patrick Roberts in on loan last summer – and then signed him full-time in January, a move with which no one quibbled at the time. That said, few could have predicted such a key player would not get off the bench for the final month of the campaign.
That leaves four who will go back to parent clubs, at least for now. James Beadle has been the first choice since the end of September and heads back to Brighton with 92 Championship appearances over two seasons under his belt, 38 for Blues. The Seagulls have various moving parts in that department with plenty of speculation about No. 1 Bart Verbruggen and fellow Championship loanee Carl Rushworth. Beadle has two more years left on his Brighton contract.
It took a while for Tommy Doyle to earn Davies' trust, and even then, as Blues' play-off hopes disappeared in February and March, the midfielder's opportunities dried up. He will go back to Wolves and is unlikely to return to Blues.
Solis, however, has been a real success in his first few months in English football. He remains a Girona player, but Blues have made no secret of their desire to keep him permanently. The Colombian has a lot of developing to do, but he has the physical and technical traits to succeed certainly in the second tier and probably even higher.
As for Osman, Davies loves the pace and direct running that can be something of a cheat code against low block defences. The Ghanaian can get behind even the deepest-lying full backs. What happens then can be a little erratic, but further refinement, more likely on loan for another 12 months, could help everyone. As things stand, he remains Brighton's development project.
Contracted for 26/27
GK: Ryan Allsop, Brad Mayo
RB: Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ethan Laird
DC: Christoph Klarer, Phil Neumann, Jack Robinson
LB: Kai Wagner, Alex Cochrane, Lee Buchanan
CM: Paik Seung-ho, Tomoki Iwata, Marc Leonard, Taylor Gardner-Hickman
RW: Carlos Vicente, Patrick Roberts, Scott Wright
10: Marvin Ducksch, Kanya Fujimoto
LW: Demarai Gray
CF: August Priske, Jay Stansfield, Kyogo Furuhashi
