As a rule of thumb, I’ve always been in the camp that would rather see Blues loan players out than in.
If you are able to do that, it is a barometer of how healthy your club is and where they are in the football food chain.
And, after all, you are usually developing another club’s player for them and stymying your own talent pool by utilising the temporary incoming route.
As for goalkeepers, I would ideally prefer an experienced hand between the sticks. It is such a key position, of responsibility and pressure.
In the case of James Beadle returning to Blues from Brighton & Hove Albion for a second successive season on loan, I’m actually comfortable with it.
Some seem underwhelmed by his re-engagement, but I think matters have to be put into context.
Chris Davies has flagged up that Blues have to be careful with their spend this summer. Regardless of increasing revenues that will help Blues compared to a lot of other Championship clubs under the new squad cost rules.
In excess of £22 million was spent in the summer window before the League One campaign.
In January, Blues shelled out £15 million to try and give themselves a push to the play-offs, and a stack of contracts were paid up.
Jhon Solis has been a £6 million transfer fee commitment this summer, Dael Fry will have not come cheap salary-wise and Blues are carrying a hefty wage bill from moves made a year ago, plus new, upgraded contracts.
Davies has opted to put whatever war chest he has towards targets at the top end of the pitch and another Brighton rising star who came on loan last season, Ibrahim Osman, is towards the summit of his wish list.
So, it was not going to be a case of splashing out, say, £10 million – £15 million on a goalkeeper.
And in Beadle, they have someone they know (and vice-versa), someone who should be all the better for his experiences in 2025/26 and someone who should also benefit from the relative squad continuity and stability compared to recent times at Blues.
The tweak to the style that is incoming should also take away some of the pressure he found – and sections of the crowd added to – when receiving the ball and passing it out, or around the back, last season. Beadle won’t have to think twice of hitting it long as and when, due to Davies encouraging a more direct, forward-thinking approach.
And, if we really want to accentuate the positives, Beadle will have a specialist set-piece coach in Scott Fry – who began his career coaching goalkeepers – to assist him at defensive set-plays.
Clearly, from within the walls at EPIC, Blues like Beadle and they have identified him as a high value prospect and candidate for a permanent signing.
Beadle has a lot of admirers in the national set up and is highly thought of by goalkeeper mentor and ex-Blues and England goalkeeper coach Dave Watson.
Before agreeing to send him up to Blues again, Brighton gave Beadle a new four-year contract.
Beadle played 38 times last season and kept eight clean sheets.
He had his moments, both good and bad, but by the end of his loan he had got a real measure of it, a real measure of Blues and playing under duress and expectation.
He provided several key contributions to positive results. Some of his stops and double saves tend to have been forgotten in the fog of confirmation bias. Beadle saved 68 per cent of shots on target, a mark that compares favourably with all the top goalkeepers in the Championship last term.
And he was part of a defence that was one of the division’s best, ranked 5th.
Spanish goalkeeper Aaron Escandell has been linked in the last few days, a €5 million-rated Real Ovideo player who has never stepped foot outside of his native land. An odd one, that, and gives off Andres Prieto vibes – Beadle has to be a far better bet and more suited to what Blues need.
This will be Beadle’s fourth Championship loan and at 22, he’s no longer a callow youth. He’s got just shy of 100 appearances under he belt at this level.
