Capitalising on both Wycombe Wanderers and Wrexham showing chinks in their armour of late, Birmingham City continue to sit pretty at the very top of the League One table in the early days of 2025.
A big 3-0 win over Wigan Athletic last time out showed off their ruthlessness in front of goal, with the table-topping Blues only needing seven shots on goal to beat the Latics goalkeeper three times, and to take their mighty points total for the season all the way up to a mammoth 52.
Chris Davies will want to guard against complacency, however, in a division that does throw up the odd surprise result, with this January potentially seeing him alter his squad to ensure promotion becomes a reality.
Birmingham fans of £19k-p/w defender
According to journalist Darren Witcoop via his X account, Birmingham are ‘fans’ of Swansea City centre-back Harry Darling, with the defender’s contract up in the summer in Wales.
Talks over a new deal have been reportedly shelved, with it now being up in the air whether the 25-year-old will pen a new deal or whether he will be moved on, with the Championship side wanting the latter option to come to fruition if they could sell him on during this window.
Darling will be well known to Blues fans having scored at St. Andrew’s last season on the way to the club being relegated, and his top-drawer Championship displays aren’t just reserved for Birmingham, hence interest also coming this January from second tier side Bristol City.
Davies’ promotion hopefuls will hope they can show their ambition again by landing the £19k-per-week target, with Darling arguably a far better option for the Blues in the here and now than taking a punt on Phil Neumann who is reportedly ‘set to sign’ in the coming days from Hannover 96.
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What Darling would offer Birmingham
As much as Neumann would slot in well to the Birmingham back four alongside Christoph Klarer and Krystian Bielik as another imposing presence, Darling could offer this same brute force as a 6 foot 2 figure and lots more based on his season to date at the Swans.
The former Milton Keynes Dons man is more than comfortable going in for duels, but it’s his ball-playing ability that will make him more of an attractive buy than his Hannover counterpart, with two goals and three assists picked up this season in the Championship as a direct result of his cool nature on the ball.
His unerring swagger was also present during his time at Milton Keynes seen in stunning solo strikes like the one above, where Darling nearly tasted promotion glory with his former employers, before moving onto Wales after being poached from the league above.
In total, by the end of his spell at Stadium MK, he amassed a ridiculous ten goals and one assist from 72 appearances, with a further nine goals coming his way when making the leap up a league to reaffirm his status as a confident contributor in attack.
Games played
26
16
Goals scored
2
0
Assists
3
0
Big chances created
4
1
Touches*
80.7
69.2
Accurate passes*
59.5 (89%)
40.6 (81%)
Ball recoveries*
3.8
4.5
Clearances*
4.7
4.9
Total duels won*
5.0
4.9
Clean sheets
6
6
Although Neumann does better the Blues target in terms of ball recoveries and clearances registered this season, he isn’t way out ahead, with Darling actually one-upping the Hannover man in terms of duels won just.
Taking a look at Swansea’s last league game shows off Darling’s prowess aerially even more, with four of his five duels won in this department, leading to Swans boss Luke Williams heralding him as “heroic.”
Whilst the Robins might hold the advantage in this transfer race in being in the Championship, Davies’ side have a reputation for pulling off impressive coups which might well happen again here with Darling’s signature.
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ByStephan Georgiou
