It is no secret that Birmingham City‘s immediate goal is to make their way to the Premier League, and it is still an achieveable target for this season.
The Blues are five points off the play-offs with 16 games left to play, which means that they are still well in the race for a top-six finish, and they beat Oxford United 2-0 last time out.
Because they are still in with a shot of winning promotion from the Championship in their first year back at this level, the club pushed the boat out during the January transfer window.
Manager Chris Davies had his squad bolstered with six new additions to the team and the permanent signing of Patrick Roberts, who had been on loan from Sunderland.
Ranking Birmingham’s January signings
Roberts has scored three goals and provided four assists in the Championship so far this season for the Blues, which is why signing him on a permanent deal is a shrewd piece of business, as he is a proven performer in the league.
He may not go on to be a star in the Premier League in the future, given that Sunderland deemed him surplus to requirements at that level, but Birmingham know what they are going to get from him in the second tier.
Moving on to the new additions, Jonathan Panzo may be the least exciting of the moves that the club made. He made two errors that led to shots and was sent off in 13 league starts for Rio Ave in the first half of this season, and may just be a back-up centre-back option.
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Ranking Birmingham’s January signings |
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|---|---|
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Rank |
Player |
|
1 |
Carlos Vicente |
|
2 |
Kai Wagner |
|
3 |
Patrick Roberts |
|
4 |
Jhon Solis |
|
5 |
August Priske |
|
6 |
Ibrahim Osman |
|
7 |
Jonathan Panzo |
As you can see in the table above, we have put the £7m signing of Carlos Vicente at the top of the pile because he has arrived at St. Andrew’s as a player who is already proven at a higher level.
The Spanish forward scored ten goals and provided three assists in 25 games for LaLiga outfit Deportivo Alaves in the first half of this season, including five goals in 21 LaLiga matches, and he provided an assist on his debut against Oxford.
Vicente ranks ahead of the likes of Wagner, Solis, Priske, Osman, and Roberts because he has shown that he can deliver real quality in one of Europe’s major leagues, whilst Solis and Osman both joined the club because they had struggled for form in LaLiga and Ligue 1.
The flop whose Birmingham career may be over because of Vicente
The 26-year-old star’s arrival at the club last month provided Davies with another quality option in the wide areas, which meant that one of the manager’s flops was allowed to leave on loan.
Scottish winger Scott Wright joined Dundee on loan until the end of the season on deadline day after the signing of Vicente meant that he was not needed for the second half of the campaign at Birmingham.
He is currently contracted to St. Andrew’s until the summer of 2027, but the experienced forward’s career at the club should be completely finished at this point.
The Blues should look to part ways with him on a permanent basis in the summer after his loan spell with Dundee, because he has not shown enough quality on the pitch during his time in England.
Wright joined the club from Rangers at the start of the 2024/25 League One campaign and ended the season with three goals and one assist in 19 appearances in all competitions. Two of those goals and the assist came in his five appearances in the EFL Trophy.
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Wright |
League One |
Championship |
|---|---|---|
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Games |
13 |
3 |
|
Starts |
3 |
0 |
|
Goals |
1 |
0 |
|
Big chances created |
0 |
0 |
|
Key passes per game |
0.8 |
0.0 |
|
Assists |
0 |
0 |
As you can see in the table above, the 28-year-old attacker has offered very little at the top end of the pitch at league level for the Blues since his move to the club, and was rarely-used in the Championship before his loan to Dundee.
His struggles should not have come as too much of a surprise, though, because Wright only scored two goals and provided one assist in his last 58 appearances for Rangers in all competitions.
Birmingham have ambitions to become a Premier League club and Wright has not shown that he can deliver consistent quality in League One, let alone the Championship or the Premier League.
That is why he has been sent out on loan to Dundee, thanks to the arrival of Vicente to add more quality to Davies’ wide options, and is why the club must sell him to finally end his career at St. Andrew’s in the summer.
