Birmingham City 'hold an interest' in Championship defender set to become free agent

Birmingham City remain interested in Fulham defender Alfie Mawson, according to reports. The 28-year-old is set to to become a free agent at the end of the season.

Website Football League World reckons Blues could launch another attempt to sign the centre back after they tried in the January transfer window. Blues looked to bolster their defensive ranks in the last window and Mawson was one of a host of names that were linked with them.

Indeed Blues actually played at Fulham when the transfer speculation was at its height and at the time Mawson had not even been involved in a match day squad for a couple of months. However, head coach Marco Silva rejected the notion saying at the time: “Alfie is our player, we will keep him I hope.” He then backed up those words with action by naming him as substitute for the 6-2 win.

Since then Mawson has been back on the sidelines and has been left out of every Championship match and his exit from Craven Cottage in the summer seems certain as Silva’s side have continued their charge to the promotion and the league title, with Tosin Adarabioyo and Tim Ream as the main defenders.

Blues’ attempts to strengthen their rearguard are also set to resume, with veterans Marc Roberts and George Friend under contract and the emerging Nico Gordon also impressing in recent weeks. However, they will look to move on from the returning Harlee Dean whose loan spell with Sheffield Wednesday finishes at the end of the campaign.

Mawson has made only 52 appearances since joining Fulham from Swansea in 2018 and will be 29 next season. In all he played 71 times for Swansea and prior to that was a team-mate of Roberts' at Barnsley for a season.