What Birmingham City squad needs in big summer transfer window

Another disappointing Birmingham City season ends this weekend, with Blues currently 20th in the league and set to finish no higher than 19th at best. Almost as soon as the final whistle goes against Blackburn Rovers at round 2.30pm on Saturday, attention will turn to next season.

Once again uncertainty prevails on the pitch where some players are out of contract, others are surplus to requirements and there is a general move to reduce the club’s wage bill. In the dugout there is speculation about the future of Lee Bowyer, with the head coach due to speak to the club’s hierarchy on Monday.

Which is to say nothing of the takeover talk which is rumbling away in the background. Questions abound yet answers are limited as the club continues to circle the Championship plughole. It’s been six seasons since Birmingham City finished in the top half of the league. In October it will be six years since the current owners took over.

As things stand Blues have an ageing squad with surfeits in some positions and holes in others. We take a look at what is required in this most important of transfers windows, with - in an ideal world - at least seven new faces needed.

Blues would like to bring Matija Sarkic back to the club. The 24-year-old made a very positive impression in the first half of the season, before dislocating his shoulder in an innocuous incident at the start of 2022. We saw just a few weeks ago when Neil Etheridge got injured and Blues leaked ten goals in two games, that more depth is required in the department. Sarkic and Etheridge would be as strong a goalkeeping pair as anywhere in the Championship.

Harlee Dean, out on loan with Sheffield Wednesday, believes he is departing St Andrew’s for good this summer. That