Birmingham could sign their next Demarai Gray for £0 this summer
Birmingham City will be looking to enter the Championship and show off their renewed confidence after an explosive title-winning season in League One.
For far too long, the Blues have struggled in the chaotic second tier, with all those lower table finishes in the EFL’s elite division coming to a head when relegation finally occurred at the close of the dismal 2023/24 campaign.
Now, however, after an unforgettable 111-point season in the league below, Birmingham will jump back up to the unpredictable level, keen to impress.
They will surely be helped navigating back up to their tricky, new surroundings by a whole host of new signings entering through the door, with one face now rumoured to be joining the ever-growing camp perhaps their next Demarai Gray at St. Andrew’s.
How Demarai Gray burst through at Birmingham
Before going on to cement himself as a Premier League regular for Leicester City and Everton, Gray was the next rising star coming up the ranks in the West Midlands.
The homegrown product instantly caught the eye when he was thrown into the senior team deep-end, making his Championship bow under Lee Clark at the age of just 17 years, three months and three days.
He quickly became known for his trickery and speed on the ball, while also being able to fire home an opportunity after darting forward with intent.
In total, Birmingham’s former number 33 slotted home eight strikes and picked up four assists from 78 games for his boyhood employers, leading to Gray then going on to tally up a mammoth 200 Premier League appearances away from St. Andrew’s.
As it happens, there’s a Birmingham transfer target who will be aiming to become a recognised top-flight performer in time, too, with his ability to play down either the left or right channel with equal amounts of venom making him a similar style player to Gray.
Birmingham’s next Demarai Gray
If Chris Davies’ men are to take the Championship by storm, they will have to scare second-tier defences stiff like they managed in League One, with Jay Stansfield and Alfie May proving to be too hot for many a third-tier team to handle, scoring 40 goals between them.
Throwing Kwame Poku into the mix could make an already dynamite Birmingham forward line even more of a mouth-watering prospect; therefore, with a report from GIVEMESPORT recently revealing that Davies and Co. are just one of a jaw-dropping 26 outfits eyeing up the EFL superstar on a free transfer.
Described as a “top-drawer” player by Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony, the forward has certainly been making all the right noises of late and if his numbers are anything to go by, he should settle into his new division swimmingly and become the club’s new iteration of Gray.
After all, away from collecting a gigantic 12 goals and 11 assists last season for Darren Ferguson’s men to show off his clinical edge, Poku’s versatility, energy and dazzling dribbling wherever he lines up on the pitch is very reminiscent of the 28-year-old during his St. Andrew’s heyday.
Whilst Gray has predominantly featured as a left winger for most of his varied career to date, he is capable of playing as a number ten or as a right winger if needed, much like the one-time Ghana international.
Of course, with the vast amount of teams sniffing around for Poku’s services, snapping him up could be an almighty slog, particularly as Premier League-bound Sunderland allegedly begin to circle.
But, Poku might well see the journey Gray went on with his hometown club as a bonus of coming to Birmingham over bravely leaping straight up to the top-flight.
