KEY’ things to iron out at Birmingham City before the end of the transfer window

Siriki Dembele’s future at Birmingham City has been plunged into doubt after his omission at Wycombe Wanderers.

The Ivorian winger was left out of Blues’ squad for the trip to Wycombe by manager Chris Davies, with Emil Hansson selected to start and Ayumu Yokoyama held in reserve. Davies’ decision was vindicated when Yokoyama stepped off the bench to provide the assist for Luke Harris’ first goal in royal blue.

But it does create a question around Dembele’s future heading into the final 10 days of the transfer window. Dembele has attracted interest during this window and it wouldn’t be a great surprise to see him leave if a suitable offer arrives.

Dembele was a topic of conversation on this week’s Keep Right On Podcast. Here is what Alex Dicken (AD) and Brian Dick (BD) had to say…

AD: “With Dembele, we suspected he might leave at the start of the summer and as it went on, Chris Davies had a look at him and realised he was a player he could work with because of his talent. Dembele obviously started that first game against Reading so that tells you he is part of Chris Davies’ plans.

“But the signing of Ayumu Yokoyama – with Emil Hansson in the building – means Blues are well stocked if an offer does come in for Dembele in the final couple of weeks of the window. They could let him go and not need to replace him.”

BD: “He wasn’t great against Reading, let’s not try and say it was anything other than a modest performance in that first half. Do you think it was so bad Chris Davies has said, ‘Well actually, you’re not in my plans, let’s cash in’?”

AD: “I don’t think Davies would wash his hands of Dembele after one game. I didn’t think Dembele played that well against Walsall when he was first put into the XI in pre-season, I thought Hansson would come back in for the West Brom game. But Davies made the point that he had really impressed him in training and he is clearly judging the players a lot in training, because that’s where he sees them the bulk of the time.

“But if you put me on the spot as to whether Dembele will be around at the end of the month, I don’t think he will. I think there will be enough interest there for Blues to receive an offer and I don’t think they would stand in his way if they could recoup the money they paid for him.”