Birmingham City bid farewell to a member of their first-team squad earlier this week.
After 13 months at St Andrew’s it was announced on Tuesday that Kevin Long had left St Andrew’s.
The centre-back scored two goals in 40 appearances for Blues, after joining from Burnley in January 2023.
However, he has now joined MLS side Toronto FC for an undisclosed fee, on a deal until the end of the year.
While that may have given clarity over the future of Long, there is one Birmingham City man in the same position, who is still waiting for that.
Marc Roberts facing uncertain future
Having joined Birmingham City back in the summer of 2017, Marc Roberts is now one of the club’s longest-serving players.
In total, the 33-year-old has now made 193 appearances in all competitions for Blues.
However, he is out of contract at the end of this season. That comes amid something of a reduced role in the first-team during the current campaign.
This season has seen Roberts feature in just ten of Birmingham City’s 33 league matches. As a result, his chances of earning a new deal in such a situation, may not have looked the most promising.
Now though, it could be argued that the departure of Long from the club, has boosted Roberts’ hopes of extending his own stay at St Andrew’s.
Birmingham City may need to keep Marc Roberts
Following Long’s move to Toronto, Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus are limited in terms of the centre back options they can call upon.
Blues now have just three options in that area. Along with Roberts, they have Dion Sanderson and Emmanuel Aiwu to fill the centre of defence for Birmingham City.
However, while Roberts is out of contract in the summer, Aiwu is only on loan from Cremonese until the end of the season.
If they were to let Roberts go and not turn Aiwu’s loan permanent, that would of course leave Birmingham City with Sanderson as their only centre back.
Not only would that put them under immense pressure to add to that position in the transfer market, it would also leave them with very little continuity in that position.
Keeping Roberts, who has been at St Andrew’s for so long, would help to ease concerns around those issues.
Meanwhile, given their limited options at centre back between now and the end of the season, Birmingham City may now have to play Roberts more than they otherwise would.
That too, gives him an opportunity to impress out on the pitch, and earn a new deal through his performances.
With that in mind, Long leaving Birmingham City, may well just have boosted the chances of Roberts himself staying at the club.