Birmingham City, Leeds United and Norwich City stars to battle for £72.5m award

Birmingham City midfielder Jordan James has been put forward for a prestigious award.

He has been shortlisted for the Championship’s Young Player of the Season. He faces competition from Leeds United’s Archie Gray and Jonathan Rowe from Norwich City.

The Young Player of the Year award for the Championship has been in existence since the 2021/22 season. Its previous winners are Brennan Johnson and Alex Scott, who earned big money moves to Spurs and Bournemouth for a combined £47.5m from Nottingham Forest and Bristol City. In its previous guise which covered all three of the divisions, the award was won by five time Champions League winner Gareth Bale and Wilfried Zaha.

James recently celebrated making over 100 appearances for the club despite still being in his teenage years. The 19-year-old has been a standout performer in what has been an otherwise frustrating campaign for Blues. 

He has played 38 times this season and has scored eight goals. James has played in various positions but has mainly played as a centre midfielder. The Hereford-born player has attracted interest from across the continent. He was poised to move to Atalanta before the club changed their mind.

Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and Wolves are all said to be keeping tabs on James. He is under contract at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park until the summer of 2025.

It is testament to the teenager who wasn’t fancied by John Eustace at the start of the campaign that he would later feature heavily under Wayne Rooney and Tony Mowbray. 

He was only named as a substitute for Gary Rowett’s first game back in charge and played 54 minutes in the win over Preston North End on Easter Monday. Despite the hype surrounding James, Rowett admitted he struggled in the central attacking midfield role against the Lilywhites.

"I don't know, I was really looking forward to seeing him in that position, that eight,” admitted Rowett.

“It's a good position for him to cause problems but I just felt he maybe struggled in those areas, to get into the game a bit.

"Sometimes, you can wait to save a player's confidence but sometimes you've got to make a decision to change it. 

“But he's a top player, a very good player and he'll get that opportunity to go again. Today just wasn't his day and we needed something a little different in there.”