'Standstill' - Club ready to give up on transfer of £10m Birmingham City man as Crystal Palace look elsewhere

Atalanta are 'ready to give up' in their pursuit of in-demand Birmingham City midfielder Jordan James, according to reports in Italy.

Gazzetta dello Sporta and Corriere di Bergamo say that negotiations are at a 'standstill'. Blues are said to be unwilling on moving from their €10m of the Wales international which is double what Atlanta offered earlier in the window. It's said by Corriere di Bergampo that they are 'ready to give up' and that talks instead are 'destinated' to re-open in June. An offer of €4.5m was apparently accepted but because of the sacking of Wayne Rooney, things changed dramatically.

In his latest say on the matter, Rooney's successor Tony Mowbray said to Birmingham Live: "Have we got a week left? The last week of the transfer window, the last day of the transfer window is generally mad isn’t it, so who knows?

"I don’t want to sit here and say everything is rosy with that because if someone comes in and bids a ridiculous number, and this club feels it can help us improve moving forward, then as I’ve said that will be the case.

“If it’s not, and bids don’t come in, and we don’t feel as if it’s going to make an impact on our squad, in fact it’s going to weaken us, then I don’t think we will be doing anything.”

The Serie A side might be gambling on James' future a slight bit as several Premier League clubs have since been said to have an interest in James. The Daily Mail reported that Birmingham's Midland rivals Wolves have lodged an official enquiry whilst Crystal Palace have also been in contact.

Palace's interest might be dwindling however as they are close to a breakthrough in their pursuit of Blackburn Rovers midfielder Adam Wharton. Andy Bayes, the Sports Editor for BBC Radio Lancashire, has reported that an 'agreement is close' between Blackburn and Palace. He is expected to travel to London today which could signal that the Eagles have gone in a different direction.

Wharton like James is a central midfielder and is also 19-years-old. Palace are said to submit an offer of £22m for Wharton and with Birmingham holding out £10m for James, it seems unlikely that they would also make a move for him too.