After spending much of the summer window opening their chequebook and raising eyebrows, Birmingham City may be about to return to a familiar hunting ground in pursuit of another headline arrival.
There is no shortage of pressure on Chris Davies’ side this season.
Then again, that is the inevitable result of dropping down a division and then embarking upon a spell of recruitment almost unprecedented for the level.
Birmingham City have snapped up Alfie May, last season’s League One Golden Boot winner, alongside Fulham starlet Luke Harris and Brighton playmaker Marc Leonard.
Christoph Klarer joins in a £3.5 million deal from Darmstadt after playing 30 games in the German Bundesliga last term.
Emil Hansen is in the door too – arriving via Heracles – while former Go Ahead Eagles schemer Willum Thor Willumsson could take the division by storm with his box-crashing talents and velveteen touch.
And, after snapping up two exciting talents from Dutch football, Birmingham appear to be closing in on a third.
Birmingham to raid Eredivisie again for Alfons Sampsted
“That club was relegated but they have the budget of the Championship and want to go back straight away,” Dutch reporter Leon ten Voorde tells Tubantia. “They got Willumsson from Go Ahead Eagles, and he is a very good Eredivisie player.”
He claims that Birmingham are now set to reunite Willumson with his friend and fellow Iceland international Alfons Sampsted.
“Willumsson is perhaps Sampsted’s best friend. They are looking for a right back and the talks are underway. He has not left yet, but I assume he will leave,” Ten Voorde adds.
But unlike with Willumson – a stand-out performer at Go Ahead Eagles – Sampsted will leave a Twente side who finished third having struggled to establish himself.
“He is a very good boy and a model pro. He has done reasonably well in a year and a half, but he is simply not good enough for FC Twente,” Ten Voorde believes. “Then I think it is completely logical (that you replace him).”
Sampsted, only 26, will still arrive at St Andrews with plenty of pedigree however even if he did struggle to convince in Enscehde.
He has been capped 21 times by Iceland. The Scandinavian also won Norway’s top-flight twice with Bodo/Glimt, featuring regularly in European competition too. Sampsted started in that famous 6-1 thrashing of Jose Mourinho’s Roma in 2021.
Twente boss confirms defender’s departure
That title-winning nous should come in handy, too, at a Birmingham side immediately installed as favourites for the League One crown.
Twente coach Joseph Oosting, meanwhile, confirms that Sampsted is not training with the first-team as a departure edges closer.
“That has already been said and written; he is set for a transfer,” Oosting tells 1Twente. “He didn’t train (on Friday) either, so there is a big chance that he won’t be there tomorrow. He is leaving.
“That boy has developed and he played a lot before the winter. (But) we have a lot of competition here. That boy did well with us and then a club comes along that wants to buy him.
“There is a big chance that he will leave.”
It is not all rosy at Birmingham, however.
HITC understands that they missed out on Goduine Koyalipou – top scorer in Belgium’s second tier last term – while rising star Jordan James is set to join Rennes for around £5 million.
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