Birmingham City’s hopes of signing an attacking player from a huge club fell through right at the end of the summer transfer window.
The Blues were beaten 2-0 away to Leicester City last Friday, suffering their first defeat of the season in the Championship, following a good start to the season.
Birmingham manager Chris Davies was a frustrated figure after the game, failing to hide his disappointment at the performance his team produced.
“I was really disappointed to lose that match. I think we conceded a poor goal to start the game, which is unlike us, but we recovered really well. Obviously, they’ve gone up the other end in the last moments and got a goal from the very little they had around our box.
“The players are very disappointed because they felt they deserved a lot more than what they got out of that game. What we’ve seen is that we’ve got the ball into good areas, but we’ve got to make them defend a little better. More crosses, more box action.”
In terms of deadline day dealings, the boss wanted two new wide players, with Sunderland winger Patrick Roberts sealing a late move to St Andrew’s.
But the Blues’ other target fell through at the final hurdle.
Birmingham suffer late blow with Celtic u-turn
Writing on X, journalist Raman Bhardwaj has reported that Birmingham missed out on signing Celtic attacker Hyun-jun Yang at the eleventh hour on deadline day, just before the window slammed shut.
Not signing Yang was an undoubted blow for the Blues, who know they need as much quality as possible in their efforts to secure back-to-back promotions and return to the Premier League.
The South Korean could have proved to be an excellent addition for Birmingham, with Celtic teammate Arne Engels speaking positively about him in the past.
“It was just unbelievable. I’m really happy for him. Yang is always training at 100%. A really amazing performance from him.”
Still, Davies should be in positive spirits about Birmingham’s hopes of impressing this season, having made some significant summer additions, from Kyogo Furuhashi to Marvin Ducksch.
Birmingham City’s summer signings
Joined from
Cost
Kyogo Furuhashi
Rennes
£7.7m
Marvin Ducksch
Werder Bremen
£1.7m
Taylor Gardner-Hickman
Bristol City
£1.5m
Alfons Sampsted
FC Twente
£1.2m
Bright Osayi-Samuel
Fenerbahce
free transfer
Kanya Fujimoto
Gil Vicente
free transfer
Demarai Gray
Al-Ettifaq
free transfer
Phil Neumann
Hannover 96
free transfer
Tommy Doyle
Wolves
loan
Eiran Cashin
Brighton
loan
James Beadle
Brighton
loan
Lewis Koumas
Liverpool
loan
It will be fascinating to see how the Blues fare in the coming months, and there is always a chance to strengthen further when the January transfer window arrives.