In the third and final part of the Forever Blues lowdown of the best and worst summer window signings since relegation from the Premier League, we bring you right up to the present day.
2020/21
Ins:
George Friend, Jon Toral, Ivan Sanchez, Jonathan Leko, Andres Prieto; Adam Clayton, Neil Etheridge, Scott Hogan, Mikel San Jose, Oriol Soldevila (all September)
Loans:
Riley McGree, Jake Clarke-Salter (loan window, in October)
Jude Bellingham made the £30 million move to Borussia Dortmund at the end of the previous lockdown-interrupted season.
The new campaign got underway in September, with Aitor Karanka as the anointed one by Dong Ren.
Karanka went, in the main, for tried and trusted experience in assembling his squad.
His former Middlesbrough stalwarts George Friend and later Adam Clayton came on frees.
Jon Toral re-joined Blues from Hull City – but sadly, was a shadow of his former self – and Ivan Sanchez, fresh from helping Elche to Spain’s top-flight, was added to the ranks. An intelligent, gifted player he proved to be.
Scott Hogan’s loan from Aston Villa was made permanent (he got a four-year contract) and Blues paid around £1 million for West Bromwich Albion’s Jonathan Leko.
Andres Prieto, an out of contract goalkeeper from Espanyol, provided competition for Neil Etheridge and Mikel San Jose, after 11 years at Athletic Bilbao, was a surprise signing on a free.
Outbound, David Stockdale, Jonathan Grounds, Cheick Keita, Jacques Maghoma and Kerim Mrabti were released at the end of their contracts, Alvaro Gimenez’s loan to Cadiz was made permanent, Lee Camp left and David Davis and Maikel Kieftenbeld moved on in January.
Karanka’s sides often performed with a rigidity and dourness and for all the know-how in the squad, father time wasn’t kind on some.
Friend was accomplished and Sanchez showed sparks of his ingenuity. But Blues slogged along, there was an obvious disconnect, and in March, Karanka was sacked and Lee Bowyer appointed manager. He kept Blues up.
Dong Ren’s number was finally called in May and he fell on his own sword, resigning.
Hit: George Friend
Miss: Adam Clayton
2021/22
Ins:
Chuks Aneke, Jordan Graham, Ryan Woods, Troy Deeney
Loans:
Riley McGree, Juan Castillo, Tahith Chong, Dion Sanderson, Matija Sarkic
Following one defeat in eight games after taking over as head coach the previous March, steering Blues away from relegation, Lee Bowyer got his teeth into his first full season at the club.
He brought in four players on free transfers, most notably lifelong Blues fan Troy Deeney, who took a big wage cut with Watford also helping to facilitate the romantic homecoming out of respect for his service.
Deeney proved to be a talismanic galvaniser despite injury niggles, and similarly when available Jordan Graham was unflashily effective.
It didn’t work out for Chuks Aneke, though, as Bowyer’s former Charlton Athletic frontman was shipped back to the Addicks in January whilst Ryan Woods was steady enough in 31 appearances.
The loan market proved useful. Dion Sanderson became a regular in the starting side until Wolves recalled him in January. Tahith Chong’s effervescence was a feature of Blues play until he required groin surgery in November (he returned from Manchester United in February but struggled with other injuries).
Matija Sarkic came in from Wolves and as Neil Etheridge struggled to overcome Covid, he started the season and became more accomplished and impressive by the game. He missed just one of 24 league matches until a freak injury cut short his loan – he dislocated his shoulder throwing the ball out to Kristian Pedersen against QPR.
Despite his Blues spell being cut short in January, Sarkic was named Player of the Season.
Charlotte FC loanee Riley McGree was back for another stint and again showed impressive versatility and good quality before the loan expired in January. And Blues were left helpless as instead of being readied for his MLS debut he was promptly sold to Middlesbrough.
As for Chelsea’s Juan Castillo, he was, well, a dud.
Although fans were let back into stadiums following Covid, Blues played the season out in front of half a ground as issues arising in December 2020 kept the lower tier of the Kop and Tilton Road End closed due to safety reasons.
Blues finished 20th, falling away badly amid talk of internal strife, having won just four of 26 league fixtures since the end of November – the ignominious 6-1 defeat at Blackpool on Easter Monday uncomfortably comes straight to mind.
Hit: Matija Sarkic
Miss: Juan Castillo
2022/23
Ins:
Finley Thorndike, John Ruddy, Tahith Chong, Lewis Cunningham
Loans:
Dion Sanderson, Przemyslaw Placheta, Auston Trusty, Krystian Bielik, Hannibal Mejbri, Manny Longelo
Unpopular owners Birmingham Sports Holdings (Trillion Trophy Asia as was) had been in takeover talks for some time.
Former Barcelona player Maxi Lopez and Birmingham entrepreneur Paul Richardson popped up on the Kop car park in July for an impromptu press conference and claimed they would be Blues new owners.
As the proposed £35 million changeover rumbled along, Lopez, Richardson and Matt Southall moved in at St. Andrew’s.
Lee Bowyer was sacked as pre-season got underway and John Eustace appointed as head coach.
John Ruddy was signed on a free transfer from Wolves (he was lined up back in the day, but Blues opted for David Stockdale that summer of 2017) and brought a calming reliability between the sticks.
Richardson was pictured proudly alongside Chong for his announcement. And Blues had certainly pushed the boat out to sign him for an undisclosed fee, from Manchester United.
Dion Sanderson returned on loan from Wolves and did well again; Auston Trusty proved a sound, durable and highly capable acquisition from Arsenal – he earned the Player of the Season honour.
Krystian Bielik returned on loan after five years away and Hannibal Mejbri’s combative energy – 23 starts, 11 yellow cards – was added from Manchester United.
Przemyslaw Placheta suffered a stress fracture of the leg soon into his Blues career and ended up another ‘who knows what might have been?’ once the loan was terminated and he went back to Norwich City.
Exit-wise, Ivan Sunjic was loaned out to Hertha Berlin for the season, whilst the contracts of Kristian Pedersen and Jeremie Bela expired at the end of June.
It was also the end of the line for Ivan Sanchez (Real Valladolid) and Fran Villalba (Sporting Gijon), both of whom were sold.
Talking of which, the Richardson-Lopez takeover hit the rocks in December, and they and Southall were subsequently sanctioned (suspended bans) by the EFL.
They accepted they took control of Blues without going through the proper sign-off procedure. Unapproved by the EFL, they breached regulations in respect of the Owners and Directors’ Test.
Blues themselves were given a suspended two-point deduction by the EFL as they ” . . . allowed a number of individuals to bring themselves within the definition of a relevant person and to acquire control of the club without the prior approval of the EFL”.
Hit: Auston Trusty
Miss: Przemyslaw Placheta
2023/24
Ins:
Tyler Roberts, Kevin Long, Krystian Bielik, Ethan Laird, Koji Miyoshi, Siriki Dembele, Dion Sanderson, Keshi Anderson, Lee Buchanan
Loans:
Jay Stansfield, Emanuel Aiwu, Oliver Burke, Cody Drameh
Towards the back end of the previous season, in April, letters of intent had been signed to sell Blues – and St. Andrew’s – to Shelby Companies Ltd, a subsidiary of Knighthead Capital.
EFL approval was forthcoming in early June, and Hong Kong Stock Exchange approval preceded Birmingham Sports Holdings’ extraordinary general meeting on July 13 that voted overwhelmingly to accept the offer.
Tom Wagner, Tom Brady et al – a new era had begun.
It was difficult for Knighthead to bankroll a summer spending spree, however, until they were formally in charge. And plans had already been put in place, with Tyler Roberts, Kevin Long, Krystian Bielik, Ethan Laird, Koji Miyoshi all joining before the takeover was ratified.
Jay Stansfield’s loan from Fulham for the season was to prove significant for Blues – he mopped up at the end of season awards.
And Keshi Anderson earned a contract after a trial period and has gone on to provide unheralded but important contributions to the team’s fortunes.
Those fortunes in this season, of course, were hugely impacted by the controversial call to sack John Eustace in October and bring in Wayne Rooney.
Fast forward to May when Gary Rowett was interim manager following on from Tony Mowbray stepping back due to ill health and Blues were relegated from the Championship on the final day of the season.
Back to the summer window, and Tahith Chong was sold to Premier League bound Luton Town for £4 million and Jobe Bellingham left for Sunderland.
Troy Deeney, Harlee Dean, Jordan Graham, Maxime Colin, George Friend and Long were all released, although Long then signed a new contract. Auston Trusty returned to Arsenal and was sold to Sheffield United.
Hit: Jay Stansfield
Miss: Oliver Burke
2024/25
Ins:
Ryan Allsop, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Alfie May, Emil Hansson, Alex Cochrane, Willum Willumsson, Christoph Klarer, Marc Leonard, Ayumu Yokoyama, Lyndon Dykes, Scott Wright, Tomoki Iwata, Jay Stansfield
Loans:
Luke Harris, Alfons Sampsted, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Ben Davies
There was a huge churn of players in the summer window of 2024 – seventeen came in, and 13 senior players left.
New manager Chris Davies was tasked with moulding a promotion-winning side and changing the style of play. An uptick in culture and standards was also expected by Knighthead.
And how he delivered – Blues winning League One by a street, with a world record 111 points.
The only downer was failure to complete a double by snaring the EFL Vertu Trophy at Wembley, Peterborough United causing an upset by 2-0.
Davies did hours upon hours of work in pre-season getting the new-look Blues ready, through training sessions and lengthy analysis.
And, in one way or another, all the summer recruits made contributions to Blues success and Davies’ expectations and patience were such that he didn’t think twice about decisive action, for example the exciting Ayumu Yokoyama being packed off on loan.
Whilst Jay Stansfield’s club record and divisional record transfer made the football world sit up and take notice on deadline day, the player who was bought a few hours earlier from Celtic was arguably as important – Tomoki Iwata. Alongside Paik, he formed the fulcrum of Davies’ machine-like Blues.
And at the back, Christoph Klarer was a shrewd capture from Darmstadt 98. A big, Austrian brick wall basically who was Player and Players’ Player of the Season.
For the first time to high specifications, Blues recruitment was very data-driven. The algorithms and analytics were vital when it came to sourcing the right types, as well as the good old eye test.
Sure, Blues also spent a net £21 million, which was still not as much as the summer of 2017 under Harry Redknapp, when the approach couldn’t have been any more contrasting.
Hit: Christoph Klarer
Miss: Ayumu Yokoyama
