Birmingham City Transfer Deal Imminent with League One Club
Birmingham City have agreed a deal with fellow League One side Cambridge United for the loan departure of Emmanuel Longelo, according to reports.
The 23-year-old is close to joining the third-tier side having been with the Blues since 2022. His first season for the club, initially on loan from Premier League side West Ham United was blighted by injuries that limited his appearances to just 25, with 23 coming in the Championship. The left sided defender was secured to a permanent deal in January 2023, which Football.London reported to be in the region of £400,000.
His second season at the club was again disrupted as he began the campaign well, making 17 appearances in the first half of the season, but failed to make an appearance from mid-January onwards. In the 24/25 season he has yet to be involved in a matchday squad.
Now according to Pete O’Rourke he is set to move to Cambridge United on loan. On Twitter (X) he wrote:
“Birmingham City defender Emmanuel Longelo has agreed a deal to join Cambridge on loan.”
Birmingham City Big Spending?
There have been question marks surrounding Birmingham City’s big spending towards the start of the season, however their free spending exploits which seemed like they would continue have ultimately died down with signings such as Alfie May, Willum Willumson and Mark Leonard all in the side before the season starts.
With such a big and expensive squad it can be difficult for managers to juggle the expectations of all the players on their books. Manager Chris Davies has already bemoaned the League One rule stating that only seven players can be sat on the bench, asking for it to be increased to nine in line with other leagues.
However, at present there are few, if any other managers that have complained about this ruling and it perhaps representative of the large squad the inexperience manager needs to keep happy. If you can afford to have players such as Tyler Roberts out of your matchday squad then perhaps your squad is too big rather than the leagues’ rules being too small.
