Birmingham City have spent handsomely after relegation to League One but their biggest target yet may be out of reach.
The Blues suffered relegation from the Championship after a rather turbulent campaign.
John Eustace was axed for Wayne Rooney whilst NFL legend Tom Brady joined the club as an investor.
Tony Mowbray came in but stepped away for health reasons before Gary Rowett failed to keep the club afloat.
Now down in League One, Birmingham have moved to appoint Chris Davies as their new manager.
Davies has been the assistant of Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers in the past but is now looking to take Birmingham forward as a manager in his own right.
Birmingham City suffer Jay Stansfield blow
The Blues have been busy in the market this summer as they look to engineer an immediate return to the Championship.
Ryan Allsop, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Alfie May, Emil Hansson, Alex Cochrane, Willum Thor Willumsson, Christoph Klarer, Marc Leonard, Ayumu Yokoyama, Luke Harris and Alfons Sampsted have all arrived at St Andrew’s.
The opening-day draw with Reading showed that there is still some work to do but Birmingham should be favourites for promotion.
More signings may yet arrive and Birmingham have been eyeing a simply astonishing move for a League One club.
The Mirror claim that Birmingham want to bring Fulham striker Jay Stansfield back to the club on a permanent basis.
Stansfield spent last season on loan at Birmingham and hit 12 goals in 43 Championship appearances.
The 21-year-old is back at Fulham but The Mirror suggested that Birmingham were selling Jordan James to Rennes in order to fund a deal for Stansfield.
James has now left the club as the report suggests that Stansfield is open to a return with one bid already snubbed.
This would be a deal to blow most League One clubs out of water and few Championship clubs would be able to cough up the cash for Stansfield right now, never mind League One sides.
Well, Birmingham’s hopes have now suffered a blow with Fulham boss Marco Silva discussing Stansfield’s future.
Silva has told The Athletic’s Peter Rutzler that Stansfield is definitely going to stay at Fulham beyond the transfer deadline.
Silva noted that Fulham may well receive approaches for Stansfield but they have no intention of letting him go.
Unless Birmingham come up with an offer Fulham can’t refuse, shattering the League One transfer record once again, it sounds like a permanent deal will be difficult to pull off.
Stansfield role at Fulham
Stansfield may now be ready to make an impact at Fulham this season.
The 21-year-old has spent time on loan in League One and the Championship; the next step in his progression should be Premier League action rather than dropping back into League One, even if Birmingham are showing incredible ambition.
Fulham saw Rodrigo Muniz hit a real purple patch of form last season and Raul Jimenez is now fit again.
Muniz still needs to prove that he can consistently score goals over a lengthy period of time though and Jimenez is now 33.
There is scope for Stansfield to kick on and become an important attacker for Fulham if can force his way into the picture.
Birmingham are bound to keep knocking but Silva is seemingly counting on Stansfield this season and may look to bring him into first-team reckoning.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
