Birmingham has found gold with a 2024 signing that will be more valuable than James.
At the end of the season, Birmingham City will hope that their reputation as the League One team with the largest spending budget does not come back to haunt them, particularly if they fail to achieve their primary promotion goal.
With Reading’s disappointing stalemate against the West Midlands club on the first day of the season, Chris Davies’s demoted Blues are already aware that this isn’t going to be as easy a mission as they had previously thought.
Since then, though, Davies’ team has won three straight and has demonstrated a strong will to win by any means necessary. The third-tier promotion favourites defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1 last time out thanks to a last-minute goal from recent addition Scott Wright.
Wright is not the only new player making an impression for the Blues right now; as a result, Birmingham is now less miffed over losing homegrown talent Jordan James to Rennes.
James’ time at Birmingham
Following their terrible relegation to League One, it did seem inevitable that James would depart the team this summer, with reports suggesting that Serie A team Atalanta was interested in signing the 20-year-old.
However, Birmingham had previously demonstrated on deadline day that they were capable of pulling off the unimaginable in terms of transfer transactions when they acquired former loan star Jay Stansfield for an incredible £20 million..
Still, they were ultimately powerless in the end when it came to their bright former gem departing last month, with the Ligue 1 titans forking out £4m to win James back in August.
James was a much bigger part of the Blues first team last season than the incredible pair would manage during their stays at St. Andrew’s. Birmingham will be hoping that, like what happened to Jobe Bellingham and even his brother Jude before him, they are not left to regret another top homegrown product leaving the club for more opulent pastures.
Having scored ten goals in 105 first-team games and assisted two more, there would have been concern that James’ absence would hinder Davies and company’s attempt to return to the Championship right away.
But Birmingham is willing to spend big money to bolster all over the pitch, as seen by their actions during the transfer window, including their acquisition of Icelandic star
Willumsson’s transfer value at Birmingham
Willumsson has only been with the Blues for a few months, but already his transfer worth has increased, according to Football Transfers.
The former Go Ahead Eagles player, who was bought for a sum reportedly close to £3.5 million, is currently valued at just under £1 million, or £300k more than James was when he was traded to come to France.
| Willumsson’s L1 performances so far this season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stat | Reading | Wycombe | Leyton Orient | Wigan |
| Minutes played | 51 | 25 | 35 | 90 |
| Goals scored | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Assists | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Touches | 25 | 23 | 26 | 58 |
| Accurate passes | 15/16 (94%) | 15/19 (79%) | 14/20 (75%) | 33/37 (89%) |
| Duels won | 2/4 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 7/18 |
| Stats by Sofascore | ||||
Prior to Wright’s heroics at the end of the game, the Blues number 18 also contributed to the first goal of the match. The 25-year-old went in for an astounding 18 duels that day, making excellent use of his 6 foot 4 stature.
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