Birmingham City captured all kinds of headlines after breaking League One spending records in the summer. As there have been a number of standout players that have come into the side, who have been the best deals that could spark a Championship comeback this season.
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00:00Charlie, looking at Birmingham City and obviously a massive window in the summer and a huge
00:06sort of reset and that sort of relegation to League One and just on players who've come
00:13in, you know, Birmingham City have obviously performed well in League One and, you know,
00:17with the investment it's certainly helped, but players who've come in and sort of shone
00:21over under the new owners and been successful signings so far, maybe, you know, not just
00:27on the pitch as well, the fans might have taken a massive like to them as well. Who
00:30sort of stands out in that sort of conversation?
00:33Well, there's so many because it was such a huge window, a complete overhaul, as you
00:38mentioned, the club feels entirely new and there's so much more positivity in League
00:42One than there was in the Championship, so it's great to see and the new faces have had
00:45a big impact on that. Alfie May coming in as last season's League One top scorer, you
00:50thought, okay, he's probably going to be the best player this season and then Jay Stansfield
00:53arrives and you're like, wow, okay, he's potentially Premier League quality, if not
00:57higher Championship. We saw that last season in the Championship for Blues, he won every
01:01single Blues individual award. But Tomoki Iwata has really surprised people from Celtic
01:06as well, coming into midfield alongside Peik Sang-ho has been so, so impressive. Willem
01:12Willemsen as well, the Icelandic international coming into the right attack midfield role,
01:17tucking in, scoring and assisting plenty of goals so far. His physicality as well, he's
01:22absolutely huge and shrugs off players when he's running through on goal and can pick
01:26out a great pass as well. Christoph Klarer coming alongside new captain Christian Bielik
01:31in the centre of defence, cost a couple of million, he's definitely been worth it coming
01:36in and just being so physical in that side and a proper no-nonsense classic defender
01:41would put his head through a wall for Blues and you want someone like that playing for
01:44the badge who every single week is going to put everything into the games, he certainly
01:49offers that. I could go on and on really about just how impressive these new signings
01:53have been, but it's all about the core of the squad that Chris Davies is trying to create
01:56and eventually these won't be new players, a lot of them are going to be around for many
02:00years to come as they move up the divisions and hopefully one day into the Premier League.
02:05Yeah, obviously, you know, Blues are clearly building for the future. How do you think
02:09these players would fare in a Championship side if Blues, you know, in another timeline
02:14were in there, where do you think Blues would actually be in the Championship?
02:18It's difficult to say, you sometimes argue these things with the Scottish clubs, whereabouts
02:21would they fit in in the Prem or would they be in the Championship, a slightly different
02:25scenario I suppose, but the quality of players is completely different to the division they're
02:29in. I genuinely think they would escape relegation by a country mile in the Championship and
02:34I think they'd be competing around mid-table, potentially even higher, it just depends when
02:39you see these clubs getting momentum and building confidence, teams that are meant to be in
02:44the mid-table really, based on paper and their squads, can sometimes move into playoff
02:49contention. It's not going to be the reality every week, teams are going to sit deep and
02:52they're going to try and stop Blues from doing what they do best, but if they can carry on
02:56what they're doing and build a little bit more confidence, they should make it all the way.