Last season, when Birmingham City was at the top of League One, they were a true delight to watch.
Standout players like Jay Stansfield significantly increased the excitement levels with a tonne of goals scored in third-tier competition. Chris Davies’ dominant Blues would only lose three of their 46 league games, resulting in an incredible 111-point total.
Birmingham ended up scoring an incredibly remarkable 84 goals during their incredibly entertaining League One marathon.
With so many new attackers being linked to join St. Andrew’s to bolster their already formidable firepower—including a promising Premier League-bound talent—they won’t be retreating into their shells when they return to the Championship.
Birmingham monitoring situation of £10m striker
According to a report from GIVEMESPORT, the super-confident Blues are now monitoring the situation of Leeds United striker Mateo Joseph.
GIVEMESPORT states that Birmingham have been interested in the Spanish hotshot for some time now, with Davies’ men potentially seeing this opening in the summer transfer window as the perfect opportunity to strike up a deal.
In addition to a January £10 million bid from Real Betis, RC Strasbourg is also cited as an interested party. However, Birmingham recently showed their mettle by acquiring a similarly costly striker from a Premier League team.
Naturally, it cost £15 million to get Stansfield from Marco Silva’s Fulham in the summer of last year, and everyone at St. Andrew’s is hoping that Joseph can become as remarkable a success as the former Cottagers attacker.
How Joseph can be Stansfield 2.0
It was somewhat of a gamble to fork out £15m for Stansfield’s services, considering the electric number 28 only had 21 strikes next to his name in senior action in the EFL before confirming a permanent Birmingham stay.
Now, that lavish fee doesn’t look too steep, with Stansfield an integral part of the Blues’ promotion story.
When moving up a division, Birmingham will be keeping their fingers crossed that Joseph can play an equal starring role, but this time around he could be the exact figure they desire in helping Davies’ men consolidate themselves as a Championship-worthy outfit.
After all, despite fading into the background at times last season under Daniel Farke’s wing, Joseph would still chip in with three goals and three assists in league action. This is a more than respectable return when you weigh up the fact that the 21-year-old only started 11 Championship contests.
With Leeds now in the big time, Joseph will be worrying that his first-team opportunities will become even more sparse. Therefore, a move to St. Andrew’s could be just what the Spain U21 international needs to kick on as he aims to follow in the footsteps of Stansfield, a fellow young striker who was also on the periphery of his then employers, Fulham, before finally becoming a main striker option in the West Midlands.
That remained the case despite the fact that Joseph was not far behind Stansfield, who scored a scorching 38 goals for the Fulham U18s and U21s combined, on the young fields at Thorp Arch. Joseph also scored six goals in the senior ranks.
Stansfield would only ever score two senior goals at Craven Cottage, which is shocking, but as Birmingham’s top player, he is still very much aware of that.
Instead of battling for scraps at Elland Road, the Leeds forward, who was previously hailed as a “dynamite” by U23 scout Antonio Mango, will want to be treated with the same respect in the near future.
In order to facilitate Birmingham’s transition to Championship life, Joseph may join and score goals, meaning that another big striker deal might soon be on the horizon at St. Andrew’s.
