Blues News

Report: Spaniards’ awful spell should act as a warning for the hierarchy at St Andrew’s

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Looks like we’re one step closer to bringing this tale to an end.

Which is a little bit of a shame, as I really thought he could bring something to the table, but it looks as if it just wasn’t meant to be.

According to reports from the Spanish outlet La Voz Del Almeria, Fran Villalba’s move away from St Andrew’s is very nearly approaching its conclusion, with UD Almeria supposedly agreeing to a fee of around €1.8m for his services, which comes out to about £1.5m at time of writing (via XE.com).

Journalist Richard Wilford has hinted at the possibility that simple homesickness has played a part in him wanting to move away from Birmingham, but the truth of the matter is even if he was settled into the city, he just wasn’t settling into English football well, and this move should have been considered anyway.

I wrote when the news first came out about him leaving that he has very much been a disappointment this season, and one could argue that he’s been the biggest disappointment across the whole team, especially when you consider the impact that the likes of Ivan Sunjic and Jeremie Bela have made during the same spell.

Maybe this deal should act as a warning to Pep Clotet and those that are in charge of transfers at the club, that you need to be 100% certain that these small, technically-minded players will be able to make it in this league before you buy them. The English leagues are well known for their lack of welcome to foreign players, so it takes something special to hit the ground running here.

How many players will leave Birmingham this window?

Less than 5

5 or more

One benefit is that the club have at least managed to recoup some sort of money from the deal, and even if it is a fee as low as £1.5m, when you take into account his wages as well, then it should give the club a lot of leeway when it comes to negotiating transfers in the remaining days of the window.

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