Jude Bellingham may be a star at Borussia Dortmund these days, but just two years ago he was playing Championship football with Birmingham City.
The Blues look to have produced one of England’s next top stars in Bellingham, but there have been plenty of exciting young talents to have passed through St Andrew’s in recent years.
With that in mind, we’re going to look at an XI of the best young players to play for Birmingham in recent years.
GK: Jack Butland
Birmingham have had a few great goalkeepers in recent years with the likes of Joe Hart and Ben Foster turning out for the Blues, but we’ve gone for a true homegrown talent in Jack Butland.
An England international, Butland has carved out a more than respectable career in English football.
RB: Maxime Colin
For all of the good work Birmingham’s academy has done over the past decade and a half, they’ve struggled to produce any truly brilliant defenders, and therefore, their current right-back Maxime Colin makes the cut here.
CB: Kortney Hause
Kortney Hause was on Birmingham’s books as a teenager, but after only a few months with the Blues, he’d move to Wycombe.
It wasn’t long before he was back in the West Midlands with Wolves though, and now he turns out for Birmingham’s biggest rivals – Aston Villa.
CB: Marc Roberts
A similar story to Colin, Birmingham, quite simply, haven’t produced a better centre-half than Roberts in recent years, so he keeps his spot in this team.
LB: Kristian Pedersen
The Danish left-back is the final current Birmingham City player to make our XI as once again, Birmingham have struggled to produce a brilliant left-back in recent years.
CM: Jeremie Boga
This one is kind of cheating as Boga was only on loan at Birmingham, but it’s worth noting just how brilliant he has been since leaving the Blues.
The Ivorian has gone on to become a bona fide star in Serie A, he netted 11 league goals in a single season with Sassuolo a few years back, and he’s even been linked to Barcelona.
This is a far-cry from the player that struggled under Steve Cotterill and Garry Monk at Birmingham.
CM: Jude Bellingham
The jewel in Birmingham’s crown. Jude Bellingham is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in this team.
Since moving to Germany, the Englishman has established himself as a truly elite midfielder at the top-level, and he’s now being linked with a massive £90m move to Liverpool.
CM: Jesse Lingard
Much like Boga, Lingard was only at Birmingham on loan, but once again, it’s worth mentioning his development since that short spell in the Midlands.
Lingard has been an England regular over the past five years, and Birmingham fans were amongst the first to see his quality as he netted four goals in just his second appearance for City.
LW: Demarai Gray
The only Premier League winner in this team, Demarai Gray has a winners’ medal from Leicester City’s fairytale season.
The winger has had a rollercoaster career to date, from struggles with Bayer Leverkusen to starring for Everton earlier this season. Gray seems to have once again hit a tough patch in his development, but the talent is certainly there for all to see.
ST: Che Adams
Che Adams wasn’t a product of Birmingham’s academy, but he certainly honed his craft at St Andrew’s.
The striker almost single-handedly kept Birmingham up in the 2018/19 season, and he’s since established himself as a Premier League regular at Southampton, while he’s also a regular in the Scottish national team these days.
RW: Nathan Redmond
Nathan Redmond is the fifth England international in this team, and since leaving Birmingham in 2013, he’s carved out a fantastic career for himself, clocking up over 250 Premier League appearances, and at the age of 28, there’s still more to come from the winger.
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