Staggering squad market values as Birmingham City compared to Middlesbrough, Ipswich Town and rivals - gallery

Birmingham City begin their new era under Wayne Rooney when they travel to the Riverside Stadium to face Middlesbrough on Saturday (October 21).

Blues opted to part ways with John Eustace and bring the Manchester United legend in to St Andrew’s. His stature in the game is huge, and already there is talk across various media platforms as to what kind of players could come now Rooney is at the helm.

He was able to attract Ravel Morrison and Christian Benteke to the MLS when he was in charge of DC United, and his new first-team coach Ashley Cole played for Derby County when he was manager there. His Red Devils connections would surely put Birmingham at the the front of the queue when potentially taking some of their younger players too.

January is still a few months off however, and whilst there the new owners have big pockets, they are bound by Financial Fair Play rules, and can only put into the squad what they make. The club has been hampered a bit by the reduced capacity at their home ground, but there are efforts to try and increase that crowd, and against West Brom we saw the stadium as packed out as it could be.

Player sales may need to happen however to help provide Rooney with some funds for the winter transfer window, where he’ll be able to put his stamp down on the squad. The current players however now need to use this time to prove themselves to him amid some uncertain futures with several players out-of-contract.

It leaves us then wondering how valuable the Birmingham City squad is, and how it compares to their rivals. Transfermarkt - helps us understand how neutrals view the mighty Blues and their squad value. We have ranked all 24 clubs below, using the online figures.