BREAKING: Birmingham City Sold Another Of Their Star On Huge Amount Of Money

BIRMINGHAM ACITY SOLD WILLUM WILLUMSSON THE PROJECT AND HE’S READY TO BE UNLEASHED

Willum Willumsson arrived at The Croud Meadow on Saturday feeling fresh. There’s no urgent need for the giant Icelander to catch up with the fitness levels of his new Birmingham City teammates, because he has already featured in three friendly matches this summer. Clearly, there’s a need for the playmaker to get up to speed with the ways of Chris Davies’ Blues, which will come in time, but he was able to hit the ground running at Shrewsbury Town.

Willumsson only confirmed his signing on Friday and yet was named in the starting XI in front of almost 1,200 travelling Bluenoses – including chairman Tom Wagner – with the intention of him getting 45 more minutes into his legs. He was deployed in the number ten role, behind frontman Alfie May, and stood quite literally head and shoulders above his centre forward and wide-men Emil Hansson and Koji Miyoshi.

The attacking midfielder’s appearance is distinctive. There is his frame, and his Alice band, but Willumsson hasn’t been brought to Blues merely to have the ball lumped forwards to him. “He’s technically really good for a player who is so big and he’s intelligent in terms of positioning and playing between the lines,” boss Chris Davies said. “I was really pleased with him and happy that he got that game under his belt, because he got to see what we’re about as a team and a club.

“He was impressive, actually. He’s trained one day and he’s suddenly turned up and playing at Shrewsbury. He’s adapted to the game model I have really quickly. He’s an intelligent player who was playing similarly at Go Ahead Eagles.

“We aren’t the biggest team. We need to have enough physicality in our team. I’m conscious of that and Willum coming in is important for that. We’ve brought in another centre back who is a good size as well. We need to make sure that we aren’t just a nice technical team, we need to have enough physicality there. You can see with Willum when he’s on the pitch that he gives us presence, which is good.”

Willumsson is here to fit into Davies’ desired approach and how he intends for Blues to apply themselves to matches in the forthcoming League One season, during which the pressure to win on a weekly basis will be understandably high, because of the club’s stature in the division but also because of the money being spent – Willumsson is likely to be the most expensive player in the English third tier’s history.

He took a little convincing, by his own admission, to swap the Dutch top tier with England’s third division, but having been presented with the Project by Davies and Craig Gardner, Willumsson decided that Blues was for him.

“It happened quite fast, but I’m happy to be here,” he said. “First when I heard of it I was a little in doubt, but they presented me the project, which is massive, and the fans are really good. I looked at clips from home games and I came here, saw the training ground, there was then no doubt in my mind. I spoke to Chris and I spoke to Craig as well. After that I was sold and I don’t regret my decision.

“I wanted to come and play for a club which is fighting for something, to achieve great things with good players. We have competition to be in the starting XI, that improves you as a player. They have everything to be excited for in the season. The goal is to help the club go back to the Championship in the first place and then reach great things together and put the club where it should be.

“I can play as an eight, ten, six, I can cover ground and I’m decent on the ball. In the middle of the pitch is where I feel best. Not any one position, but just where the coach wants me to play and help the team. It’s different how Chris wants to play compared to my other clubs, it’s quite intense but I’m sure we’ll get used to it as we play more games. He wants to press, play quick, attack, keep the ball, one or two touches, not slow the game down. The intensity is high!”