Three Birmingham City players are ‘up for grabs’ in January, says journalist Darren Witcoop.
Birmingham City are heading into what looks set to be another busy transfer window, after the club made waves in the last summer window.
Blues backed John Eustace and started the season well before replacing the well-liked former Blues boss with Wayne Rooney.
And now Birmingham City are struggling down in 16th.
Rooney inherited a side not built for his style of play, or at least that’s been the case so far, and the former England striker has often spoken about wanting changes to be made in January.
He also predicted comings and goings in the New Year, and now it seems like we know three who could be leaving St Andrew’s next month.
Darren Witcoop backs Birmingham City trio to leave
Birmingham City have a fairly big first-team squad with several players very much on the peripheries, and looking like surplus to requirements.
Three such players are Neil Etheridge, Many Longelo, and Scott Hogan.
Back-up goalkeeper Etheridge is yet to feature under Rooney, whilst Longelo has lost his place in the XI after a string of poor performances.
Hogan fell out of favour under Eustace and now plays a back-up role under Roney, with Championship rivals Sheffield Wednesday apparently eyeing the former Aston Villa man ahead of January.
Witcoop says all three are ‘up for grabs’ in January, whilst interestingly adding that Derby County midfielder Max Bird is a player of interest.
Bird in, Etheridge, Longelo, Hogan out?
After Blues spent well in the summer, expect a bit of balancing to be required before new signings are made.
That should mean that the likes of Etheridge and Hogan especially could be moved on with the senior pair likely to be high earners at the club.
Longelo is a tricky one; he remains a young player but he’s failed to impress, though with full-backs thin on the ground right now, he might be kept around until the summer.
Bird was initially linked with Birmingham City soon after Rooney’s appointment. But the win at Cardiff City in midweek saw Ivan Sunjic return to the XI alongside Jordan James and Krystian Bielik, making for a quality midfield three.
Another in Bird would add depth and more quality, and with Sunjic out of contract in the summer, he could be a starter next time round, but Blues might yet look to extend Sunjic’s contract following his previous big money move to the club.
Next month will certainly be an interesting one, then.
Birmingham City definitely need to improve and given the club’s bold decision to hire Rooney, and Witcoop’s post on X, we could see a fair it of activity at St Andrew’s next month.