Blackburn Rovers 'enter talks' over last-gasp swoop for £1.5m Birmingham City gem
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Birmingham City could sanction a player’s exit for Blackburn Rovers before the transfer deadline.
Blackburn have reportedly entered discussions with Birmingham over the possibility of signing versatile midfielder Taylor Gardner-Hickman on loan with an option to buy.
Journalist Alan Nixon reports - via his Patreon - that Blackburn are ‘in talks’ with Blues as they seek to bring Gardner-Hickman to Ewood Park. The former West Bromwich Albion man could leave St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park just eight months on from joining Birmingham permanently for £1.5 million after an initial loan from Bristol City.
Blues boss Chris Davies is understood to see Gardner-Hickman as a valuable member of his squad due to his ability to play in an array of positions, including central midfield, on either wing, or as a full-back. There’s a recognition that Gardner-Hickman won’t be a regular starter for Birmingham in the Championship, however, so Blues won’t stand in his way, as long as an acceptable offer arrives.
This reality was addressed in Birmingham World’s transfer round-up earlier on deadline day. The likes of George Hall, Alfie Chang, Tyler Roberts, Lyndon Dykes and Alfons Sampsted could all complete moves away before the window slams shut at 7pm, though time is of course running out for deals to be sanctioned.
Birmingham failing in defender pursuit
There’s a hope that Blues can sign wingers Patrick Roberts from Sunderland and Yang Hyun-jun from Celtic before the deadline but the main objective of the day was to sign a new defender, and that’s not going happen as it stands. Davies admitted after Friday’s 2-0 defeat away at Leicester City that there was a clear need to bolster the depth at the back.
“I think we need a little bit of reinforcement, just depth in our defensive area and again, we could do with a bit more depth, maybe higher up the pitch as well,” Davies said at the King Power. “But we have to see what the squad looks like in the next couple of days because there's a lot of moving parts to it, as I said. But everyone's trying, we'll see what happens,” Davies concluded.
Unless something drastically changes late on, Davies will be left disappointed with no new defender acquired on deadline day. With Alex Cochrane the only out-and-out left-back fit for the next few months as Lee Buchanan is still out injured, that’s quite the concern.