Thursday 29 December 2011

Transfer Targets For January, Let's Be Optimistic.

So the January transfer window opens in around 54 hours but who's counting? Normally you would look forward to the window as it is an exciting time in the football year that can rejuvenate your club and enhance their season, i highly doubt this for Blues though. Manager Chris Hughton has already stated how Blues won't be big spenders in January, and it is likely that more than 1 player will depart.

Departures
Lets get the bad stuff out of the way first. As we know, Liam Ridgewell has requested to leave the club, Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion are interested as far as we know and I assume he will go to whoever offers him the most money as bids will both be around the £2million mark. Nikola Zigic is an interesting one, Zigic is a player who has scored goals in the Champions League for various clubs and has performed well against the likes of Barcelona in his time at Valencia. You would class Zig as a Premier League player, despite his recent performances. Blues tried to sell the 6 foot 7 Serbian striker in the summer but due to injury he went nowhere. Zigic himself as stated how much he enjoys playing in England and how Birmingham City Football Club and Birmingham in general is great for him, his wife and family (he would say that on 60k a week). I have a soft spot for Ziggy despite his donkeyish behaviour, and i'm not sure how i'd feel if he left.


 
Serbian forward Nikola Zigic, celebrating a goal for Birmingham City.

Jean Beausejour, now this guy was unknown when he joined Blues from Club America in the summer of 2010 and played a small part in our last season in the Barclays Premier League, but this season has been our left midfielder for nearly every game, Chris Hughton actually plays midfielders in position unlike McLeish who used to play Fahey or Bowyer on the left... Beausejour has been linked with a £3m move to Wigan Athletic. Others linked with clubs are, Nathan Redmond (Man City) and Jack Butland (Unknown).Pictured below in order.



Arrivals, Maybe?
Like everyone else I don't have a clue what is going on with the finances right now, but I know that the money is not there for a big money move, deadline day saw Blues pay out "undisclosed" fees for midfielder Wade Elliot and defender Pablo Ibanez. Loans and bosmans have been the main source of incoming players for Blues this season.

Blues bought in several frees in the summer; Burke, King, Spector, Gomis, Caldwell and Rooney. They also made use of loans with; Boaz Myhill, Guirane N'Daw and top goalscorer Chris Wood.


Chris Wood - scorer of 11 goals for Blues in his 4 months here on loan.
One thing I am quite sure of is that Wood and N'Daw will extend their loans to full seasons. N'Daw leaves for the African Cup of Nations with Senegal next week when his loan expires and with his recent form I expect the management team to keep him on. Chris Wood is a young lad and West Brom have kindly extended his loan to us on several occasions, as a youth loan. The Baggies have many first team forwards so Wood is not really needed for them, all the better for us! I can't really see any players coming in for money but here's my optimistic dreamers wishlist.


1) Nicky Maynard (Bristol City)

Maynards contract expires in the Summer and Bristol are not renewing, maybe a steal from a struggling team?

2) Jordan Rhodes (Huddersfield) He is in fine form and i'm sure he'd love to leave league 1 for a possible promotion to the Premier League, this won't happen but i'd like it too.






That's it really, we don't have the money right now and Chris Hughton has done a fine job with what he has got, right now we need to focus on the Blackpool game on the 31st December.

Speak soon and Keep Right On!

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