'Trolley dash' - Birmingham City's most expensive transfers and what happened next

Birmingham City are planning for the 2022 summer transfer window and have already identified some of their targets.

Indeed, Blues have been linked with the recently released Bristol City winger Callum O'Dowda and with Championship clubs confirming their retained lists there will be a scramble to pick up the bargain free transfers of the close season. There is unlikely to be a big splurge on new players - unless a takeover is completed - with Blues looking to improve under Lee Bowyer next season.

Here, we look at the biggest transfer fees forked out on players in recent history...

Blues' 2017 summer trolley dash under Harry Redknapp was perhaps best summed up by then record signing of Jota from Brentford. Blues splashed out over £6m on the Spaniard, who at the time was considered one of the most creative players in the Championship.

Between them Darren Dein, Jeff Vetere and Redknapp oversaw 13 new arrivals in that transfer window - and Jota's arrival was the one that caught the eye. He struggled in his first season under Redknapp and Steve Cotterill before improving under Garry Monk.

He was slightly better in his second but shackled on the right wing he struggled to make the kind of impact that was expected. In 2019 he was sold to Aston Villa, with Gary Gardner coming the other way - where he also found it difficult to make an impression and he is now at Deportivo Alaves in his native Spain.

Blues caused something of a splash in the summer of 2019 when they broke their record for the Croatia Under-21s captain. Having impressed at the heart of midfield for Dinamo Zagreb, Sunjic was also a target for Championship rivals Leeds United.

He chose St Andrew's and looked to be the second coming of Barry Ferguson in his first few