Birmingham City have made big waves in the January transfer window – and there’s still five days to go
Birmingham City’s Colombian midfielder Jhon Solis(Image: bcfc.com)
Birmingham City have attacked the January transfer window with the same kind of gusto they used to assail some of their League One victims last season.
Three permanent signings, two more on loan, Blues have effectively signed half a new team as they seek to accelerate their owners’ Premier League ambitions.
There might even be more to come, it’s a well-established fact they are in the market for another left-sided centre back after Eiran Cashin was recalled by Brighton and sent back out to Blackburn Rovers.
In short, it could be six and by anyone’s maths that’s more than half a team.
Kai Wagner has already slotted seamlessly in at left back, up front August Priske made his debut off the bench last weekend and most Blues fans are positively salivating at the prospect of Carlos Vicente flying down the right wing at Oxford on Saturday.
Loan player Jhon Solis has two substitute appearances, while Ibrahim Osman played the first hour of the draw with Stoke.
Chris Davies will be tasked with extracting more out of all of them and potentially even combining all five of them in the same starting line-up. That would be a challenging task in pre-season, it will be doubly so on the hoof.
Vicente will have had a couple of training sessions if/when he plays this weekend, Priske and Osman will be slightly further on but equally adapting to the demands of Championship football and settling in new surroundings. It will be similar for Solis. Only Wagner has been fully assimilated thus far.
FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK! All the latest Blues news on Birmingham Live’s Birmingham City FC Facebook page
However, Tom Wagner has not made a vast investment to play a waiting game and both he and Davies will want a return on that investment pretty quickly because on paper – and no, football matches are not played on paper, all five in a starting XI looks mouthwatering.
Against Stoke Osman showed both why he was brought to Blues and why he needs to spend time in the Championship rather than at Brighton in the Premier League. Once he found his feet early in the second half he showed the pace to simply fly past Sorba Thomas. It is hoped Vicente will be similarly potent on the other side.
Solis has looked promising in his two cameos, bringing size and legs to the middle of the park, while Priske instantly gave Blues a focal point up front, winning his first flick-on and many more.
It would be a surprise to see all five thrown in at the Kassam Stadium, or maybe even against Leicester the following week – but it’s difficult not to be excited about a starting line-up that goes something like:
Blues (4-2-3-1): Beadle; Iwata, Neumann, Klarer, Wagner; Solis, Paik; Vicente, Stansfield, Osman; Priske.