Birmingham City look to be facing a rather pivotal January transfer window, following the downturn in form under new boss Wayne Rooney.
So far, Rooney has overseen four defeats and a draw as Birmingham City boss.
This international break comes at a good time for him and his players with Rooney having set individual fitness regimes for this break, in a bid to get his Blues side up the table.
There’s already been talk of the January transfer window. There’s suggestions that Blues will have to be frugal to avoid Financial Fair Play offences, with the club likely to look at new signings if they remain low down in the Championship table.
So Birmingham City may need to offload some names before they look to bring in any new faces, and with that in mind, here are three Blues players who could be offloaded in the winter transfer window…
Neil Etheridge
The goalkeeper has played understudy to John Ruddy since the latter’s arrival ahead of last season.
The 33-year-old made just four Championship outings last time round and 21 in the campaign before, and he sees his current contract expire at the end of this season.
He’s likely one of the higher earners at the club and given his lack of game time, both he and the club could be happy to part ways in January, so expect Etheridge to be one that Blues consider to offload.
Emmanuel Longelo
Longelo has been a consistent source of criticism from Birmingham City fans this season.
He showed glimpses of a player with real potential last season, but so far this season, he’s been relatively poor.
Individual performances against the likes of Southampton have drawn criticism from fans and reporters alike and Longelo has since lost his place in Rooney’s starting XI.
Blues are relatively well-stocked at full-back with everyone fit and should the club really need to offload players in order to bring new ones in, Longelo could well be one who faces the chop.
Scott Hogan
The striker may be a surprise inclusion on this list given Blues’ current lack of firepower, but Hogan himself hasn’t given Birmingham City much of that firepower in the last year.
Although he’s been a consistent source of goals for the past few seasons, his game has taken a downturn and he’s only managed to score one in 14 league outings this season.
He’s not started for Rooney since his opener vs Middlesbrough last month and with Hogan out of contract in the summer, Blues could well offload him for a fee and look to bring in other attacking options.
Hogan joined on a permanent deal in 2020 and has since scored 36 goals in 144 total apeparances.