Christopher Samba has been training with Aston Villa since the turn of the year – but could he earn a deal at Birmingham City instead?
Harry Redknapp really doesn’t help the stereotype. As soon as he was parachuted in to save Birmingham City’s Championship skin, Twitter was awash with speculation that some of his favourite adopted sons, from Peter Crouch to Niko Kranjcar, would soon be rocking up at St Andrews.
And while the beanpole striker and the former Portsmouth playmaker remain at Stoke City and Rangers for now, it appears that the veteran gaffer is indeed planning to pull off the most typically Redknapp move of all.
According to the Birmingham Mail, Redknapp could make Christopher Samba his first signing at the Midlands club – despite the fact he’s spent the last few months training with local rivals Aston Villa.
Redknapp, as you might have guessed, has worked with the Congolese bruiser before.
Although English football has seen two very different sides of Samba; the imposing man-mountain who thrived at Blackburn Rovers and the error-strewn, £12.5 million, £100,000-a-week disaster who played a major role in QPR’s humiliating 2013 relegation (BBC).
Wheelin’ ‘n’ dealin’
Yet, with long-serving Paul Robinson out of contract and Krystian Bielik returning to parent club Arsenal, Birmingham only have two senior defenders. Redknapp signing Samba on a free at St Andrews is a far less risky move than paying top dollar for him at QPR.
And if the 33-year-old can rediscover the form that once made him one of English football’s most feared centre-backs, it will add insult to injury for Aston Villa.
Manager Steve Bruce told the Birmingham Mail that Samba would continue to train through pre-season in the hope of earning a contract but it appears that they may have to act faster than anticipated.
After all, Redknapp has already admitted via his column in the Evening Standard that he has his eye on a few freebies.
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