Birmingham City did not fancy sticking it out in League One for the foreseeable as Chris Davies’ Blues soared to the third-tier title in some style.
Amazingly, the West Midlands giants have now set a new EFL points record at the very top of the League One tree, with a mighty 111 points accumulated across the memorable campaign coming about off the back of a very impressive 34 victories.
Jay Stansfield, of course, has had a big part to play in Birmingham’s unbelievable success story, with the ex-Fulham man hopeful he can keep his potent exploits coming in the Championship next season.
Stansfield's key role in Birmingham's promotion
It would have been a major letdown if Stansfield was anything but spectacular for Davies’ men with Birmingham splashing significant wads of cash to lure him to the fallen giants.
A fee around the £15m mark doesn’t look too steep now, though, considering the 22-year-old has helped himself to a hefty 24 goals in all competitions this campaign from 46 total contests, with 19 of those strikes coming in the league as Birmingham romped home to the title.
Stansfield does have Championship experience already on his side as Davies and Co navigate the step-up too, with 12 goals already tallied up in the difficult division from 45 clashes, meaning the clinical number 28 shouldn’t suddenly lose his Midas touch in front of goal.
But, Birmingham will know their firepower needs to be improved somewhat – away from just relying on Stansfield’s magic – so they can compete with the top dogs in their path, with a statement move already reportedly on the cards to bring back a former Blues forward who is arguably even better than the standout 22-year-old.
Birmingham interested in move for "terrific" attacker
There is also Alfie May waiting in the wings for a shot at second-tier glory, with the experienced EFL head chipping in with 16 league goals of his own for Davies’ men.
But, Birmingham would not turn down the opportunity to bring back former gem Che Adams if they could – away from the star power they already possess – with Football Insider recently revealing that a ‘blockbuster switch’ was being worked on to try and tempt the current Torino striker back to his familiar St. Andrew’s surroundings.
After all, the Scotland international has proven himself to be a reliable source of goals playing in Turin since a summer switch from Southampton, with the 28-year-old not fazed by the bright lights of the Serie A at all when collecting ten goals from 35 appearances.
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Yet, whilst it’s clearly impressive that the “terrific” attacker – as he’s been labelled by pundit Ally McCoist recently – has acclimatised to Italian life well, Birmingham will be pushing ahead to make this deal a reality based off his reputation for being a goal machine in the EFL, particularly in the punishing division Davies’ men are reentering into.
23/24
Southampton
40
15
4
18/19
Birmingham
46
22
5
17/18
Birmingham
30
5
2
16/17
Birmingham
40
7
6
Adams has, after all, collected 34 of his 49 career Championship goals when donning Birmingham blue, with the 28-year-old’s 15-goal heroics during the 2023/24 season enough to help then manager Russell Martin clinch promotion with Southampton.
Stansfield has some catching up to do in this department, with the Blues hotshot only on that aforementioned tally of 12 strikes at the difficult level, but his game could be elevated to the next level lining up next to the Torino number 18.
This will be a fascinating transfer tale to watch unfold, with Birmingham capable of flexing their muscles once more if a move is reached to re-sign their lethal former number nine ahead of a new Championship adventure.
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