Birmingham City are a club in turmoil, and they’ve been this way for far too long now.
Tensions are finally boiling over at St Andrews due to the neglectful ownership of the BSHL group.
The stadium is falling to bits, the club have once again staved off relegation to League One, Lee Bowyer looks like he’s on his way out and whoever replaces him will have one hell of a job on their hands.
However, for all of BSHL’s failings behind the scenes, one thing they may be judged on more than anything else is their business in the transfer market, and with that in mind, we’re going to look at an XI of the worst signings Birmingham have made since they were taken over in late 2016.
GK – David Stockdale
Signed on a free transfer from newly-promoted Brighton, there was a lot of excitement around St Andrews when David Stockdale signed in 2017.
However, the goalkeeper looked a shell of his former self at the Blues. He put on weight, lost his agility and made error after error – enduring arguably the worst game of his career against Brentford in February 2018.
The ex-Fulham man earned huge money while at Birmingham, and he certainly didn’t provide much value.
RB – Yan Valery
Another player Birmingham fans were excited about when he signed. Yan Valery joined the club on loan from Southampton in 2021, but seven appearances and just two starts later, he was gone once again.
The Frenchman wasn’t awful at Birmingham by any stretch, but his lack of involvement made this a rather pointless signing.
CB – Mikel San Jose
To be fair to Birmingham, they haven’t gone too far wrong when it comes to signing centre-backs in recent years, so we’ve had to use two makeshift defenders in our time.
Naturally a midfielder, Mikel San Jose was signed with Spain caps and Champions League experience behind him, but at the age of just 31, his legs had already gone.
Immobile, turgid and unfit, San Jose really didn’t adjust to the rigours of Championship football, and after 10 years in La Liga, he reportedly earned more than £25k-a-week at Birmingham.
CB: Kristian Pedersen
Another makeshift centre-half, Kristian Pedersen is naturally a left-back.
Pedersen is probably the best player in this team in terms of performances for Birmingham, but that isn’t what makes him such a bad signing.
Indeed, the Dane’s arrival is one of the main reasons for Birmingham’s EFL sanctions in recent years and it was this transfer that saw Birmingham eventually slapped with a 9-point deduction under Garry Monk.
LB – Cheick Keita
Cheick Keita seemed to have the world at his feet when he arrived at St Andrews.
He was linked with Juventus, and he looked to have a massive future in the game, but he very quickly fell out of favour at Birmingham.
Keita would make just 11 appearances for the Blues before being shipped out on a number of loans and eventually being released.
CM – Ivan Sunjic
Birmingham City’s record signing. Ivan Sunjic has been far too inconsistent for City for far too long.
At times, he looks every bit a Croatia international, but nine times out of ten, you can absolutely see why he’s playing for a club struggling to stay in the Championship.
At £6m, this was a financial hit that Birmingham, quite simply, couldn’t afford.
CM – Cheikh N’Doye
Cheikh N’Doye joined Birmingham off the back of two seasons in Ligue 1 where he’d scored 14 goals from midfield. The Senegal international looked like he was ready to take the Championship by storm, but within months, he was nothing more than a joke figure.
His first-touch was woeful, he could barely keep up with the pace of the game and the fact that he was one of the club’s highest earners only rubbed salt in the wound.
CM – Adam Clayton
An Aitor Karanka favourite at Middlesbrough, Adam Clayton looked like a shell of a player during his time at Birmingham.
He gave away penalties, scored own goals and made mistakes before being completely frozen out of the team.
Clayton eventually had his contract terminated less than 18 months after signing for Birmingham.
RW – Jota
Birmingham thought they were getting one of the Championship’s best players when they pulled off a club-record deal to sign Jota in 2017.
Jota was coming off the back of a season with Brentford where he’d netted 12 goals in just 21 appearances, but that form completely deserted him in the Midlands where he’d score just eight goals in two seasons.
Jota took up huge space on the wage bill, and to make matters worse, he eventually left for Birmingham’s biggest rivals, Aston Villa where he was also a dud.
ST – Sam Cosgrove
£2m is a lot of money for Birmingham City, and they can’t afford to spend that much on a striker who, quite simply, couldn’t score goals.
Cosgrove barely got a game after his £2m move, appearing just 12 times for the Blues, and in those games, he barely had a shot, never mind scoring a goal.
Despite spending six seasons in English football now, Cosgrove has just four league goals to his name. How did Birmingham ever think he was worth £2m?
LW – Kerim Frei
A player with a lot of talent, Kerim Frei was gone almost as soon as he arrived at Birmingham.
The Turkey international looked like he could be a very handy player for Blues, but after just 13 games, he was on his way out of St Andrews after barely making a mark.
At least he’ll always have that free-kick against Rotherham.
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