Birmingham City confirm transfer agreement reached ahead of next season

Birmingham City have confirmed that Sporting Gijon have taken up the option to sign Fran Villalba permanently in the summer.

The 23-year-old joined Blues from Valencia in the summer of 2019 and there was a lot of excitement about his arrival initially.

However, things didn’t really go to plan for the attacking midfielder in the West Midlands, as he struggled for consistency and returned to Spain just six months after joining, with a loan spell at Almeria.

Villalba spent last season with the same club and another temporary switch was arranged for the current campaign with Sporting Gijon.

And, Birmingham announced on their official site that the La Liga 2 outfit have triggered the option that will make his stay a long-term one.

In truth, that doesn’t make much difference to Blues as Villalba’s deal at St. Andrew’s is expiring in the summer and it was highly unlikely that they would offer him a new contract as he clearly isn’t in Lee Bowyer’s plans.

The player departs having made just 17 league appearances for Birmingham, scoring one goal.

The verdict

You can’t imagine that the Birmingham fans will be too bothered by this, as whilst Villalba divided opinion at the team, everyone knows he isn’t in the plans moving forward.

So, he was going to leave in the summer but this ensures that the player knows where he will be playing his football next season, so that’s good for him.

Villalba could be one of many who departs in the summer as Bowyer will surely want to make plenty of changes to his squad.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

Source