Birmingham City lodged an unsuccessful bid for this Championship midfielder last week, it has now been revealed.
Birmingham City have enjoyed a strong end to the winter transfer window, bringing in Seung-ho Paik and today Alex Pritchard, who joins on a permanent deal from Sunderland.
He reunites with former Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray who’s given Blues an immediate confidence boost, losing just one of his opening four games in charge and winning two; the same amount of wins that Wayne Rooney had in 15 games in charge.
The Blues board are clearly backing Mowbray this month, with Andre Dozzell another signing.
But it’s now been revealed today that Birmingham City saw a bid rejected for Dozzell’s QPR teammate Ilias Chair last week, before completing the signing of Pritchard.
Journalist Darren Witcoop revealed:
Birmingham City could snap up Ilias Chair this summer
Chair is out of contract in 2025, and with QPR facing relegation into League One, the Moroccan international could push for an exit in the summer.
And the R’s would be unlikely to keep him and eventually release him, so he could be up for grabs in the summer regardless of how QPR fare in the Championship.
The 26-year-old has scored three and assisted five more in 27 Championship outings this season; in total, Chair has 200 Championship appearances for QPR, with 30 goals and 31 assists.
He’s a real livewire but in Pritchard, Birmingham City have a like for like player to see them into the summer at least.
But if Chair can come to St Andrew’s ahead of next season then it would give Mowbray another really dangerous attacking option.
Birmingham City make the short trip to West Brom this weekend with kick off at 3pm on Saturday; a win could pull Blues 10 points above Chair’s QPR who currently sit in 22nd, seven points behind Birmingham City.