Welcome to BiminghamLive’s coverage of all things Birmingham City on Wednesday January 12th.
Bowyer committed
Lee Bowyer insists that Birmingham City will get past its “sticky spot” and expressed a desire to stay in St. Andrews for the “long term”.
The 45-year-old saw his side humbly exit the FA Cup on Saturday when Blues lost 1-0 to League One Plymouth Argyle without scoring a shot on goal.
In fact, his team hasn’t won since November 27 – a series of five games in which they have only scored four goals and they are facing some important weeks with games against the bottom three teams ahead of them.
Bowyer admits it’s a fight right now, but maintains the reasons that led him to the blues in the first place – and that saved him from relegation nine months ago – still exist.
And he is more confident than a few weeks ago that he will be helped in the January transfer window.
He said, “I am a fighter and I know the reason I came here. I would fight to stay in the league and I came anyway.
“Now it’s tough, every time we step on the field it’s tough.
“But I’m here for the long term, I want to be here. The reason I came is because I know the potential. I want to be the person who watches the club grow again.
“Yes, we are in a difficult position, but we will get through this, we all have to stick together. Not just me, yes, I’m the head of a game day, but the players.
“We had meetings and discussions and we are all still positive here. I think you saw last weekend that there wasn’t much that was up against a good QPR team, they had a bit of quality in the final third which made the difference that day.
“Given how many people we’ve got out, we’re still fighting – but yeah, we’ll be fine.”
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Loan return
Birmingham City has recalled Zach Jeacock on loan from Salford City.
The 20-year-old spent the first half of the season in League Two outfit – but has only played four games.
Three of them made it into the Papa John’s Trophy, with his only league game coming in a 2-1 loss to Carlisle United in September.
He’s been behind Tom King since then, at least until last Saturday when he wasn’t involved against Newport County.
Jeacock returns to upgrade goalkeeping options at Blues, with Matija Sarkic’s loan ended prematurely due to a dislocated shoulder.
Lee Bowyer announced last week that Sarkic has returned to Wolves and that Jeacock is being brought back to support Neil Etheridge – who started in the FA Cup loss to Plymouth Argyle last Saturday.
Connal Trueman was on the bench and while Bowyer said he didn’t expect to add another loan keeper to this roster, Jeacock will likely stick with the Blues, training with Etheridge and Trueman under coach Andy Marshall.
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Fantastic
Birmingham City are keen to bring Manchester United youngster Amad Diallo to St. Andrews.
On Saturday night, The Mirror revealed the Blues’ desire to add a third United player before transfer guru Fabrizio Romano said the deal had failed on Sunday morning.
However, the Telegraph reported Monday that the Blues haven’t given up hope and BirminghamLive understands they don’t think the deal is dead.
So what can blues fans expect from a player who transferred € 25m from Atalanta to Old Trafford a year ago?
Here’s what you need to know about him.
Who is he?
A young winger who came to Italy from Ivory Coast at the age of eight and started on the Boca Barco youth team before being spotted by Atalanta, whom he joined in January 2015 – aged just 12.
He came through the Atalanta youth division before playing four Serie A games and being sold to Manchester United for a € 40m deal in January 2021.
With both feet and fast, he plays predominantly as a right winger and names Paul Pogba as his youth hero.
Refined touch
Amad was discovered at a youth tournament, his first chance to compete, and ended the tournament with the award of best player and top scorer.
Denis Cerlini, youth boss of the small Emilian club Boca Barco, where Amad played, told transfermarkt 2017: “It was impossible not to overlook Amad’s abilities.
“For his age, although not very tall, he was of a fairly well-defined height, but what impressed him most was the technical aspect: two-footed, subtle contact with the ball, developed psychokinetics. He put the ball on the floor and everyone jumped like Cone. “
With people like Juventus and Bologna interested in him, Atalanta crashed.
Within a year he had helped the Atalanta academy win the national title when they met Roma in the final.
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tries
Birmingham City has brought two youths to justice – both of whom were in the draw against Burnley U23 on Monday night.
Ipswich Town’s Colin Oppong played an hour before being replaced by Leo Dos Reis while Owen Humphreys was double substituted for Keke Simmonds as Steve Spooner’s men left with one point and a 1-1 draw.
Oppong is a striker who will leave Portman Road after his contract expires later this month.
The 6ft 3ins target man joined Ipswich from Cliftonville, Northern Ireland in January 2020 before earning a fellowship deal.
The 19-year-old has spent most of his time on the Ipswich development team, scoring twice in PDL 2 the previous season but was on loan with Bury Town last season and Lowestoft Town this season.
Attacking midfielder Humphreys has just left Mangotsfield United for Southern League rivals Larkhall Athletic.
