With just three days remaining of the transfer window, what was looking to be a disappointing transfer period for Blues has appeared to have perked up with a couple of potentials on the radar.

Probables

Curtis Davies – It’s been widely reported that centre back Curtis Davies is to undergo a medical today ahead of a £1.75mil move to Birmingham City from Aston Villa. Whilst there are still some fans left in the dark ages who can’t understand why we’d sign someone from our loathed neighbours, I think this is a good signing. Okay, Davies has had some problems with injuries but he is still a decent defender. At the moment if Johnson picks up a suspension or an injury we could be struggling at the back; signing Davies would give us a lot more cover, and a defender with Premiership experience to boot. We’d then be in a position to have four decent centre halfs (Ridgewell is a left back now IMO) and an excellent spine to the team.

Possibles

Obafemi Martins – both the Mail and the Mirror reported that Martins is set to join Birmingham City on loan until the end of the season from Russian side Rubin Kazan. The 26 year old Nigerian had a decent spell in the Premiership before with Newcastle United, and I think his pace and skill would offer us a lot. Again, he’s a player who has had issues with injuries, but I’d feel with our current setup that isn’t as much of a problem as it could be, and that Martins could well provide us with the extra dimension in attack we so sorely need. The reported loan fee is £350k; I’m not sure how much money he is on but bearing in mind he signed for Rubin for 17million Euros I suspect he’s on a fair old whack. It’s true he only has two Russian Premier League goals to his name for the Tatarstan side, but I think his quality and his experience would enhance us enormously.

Players out

If we are to sign both Davies and Martins, it would put us one over the overage Premiership squad quota of 25; which means one player would have to be left out. There has been talk of Sebastian Larsson crossing the other way across the expressway to the pink and baby blue mob, but that seems to have died down now after Birmingham City reached the final of the Carling Cup. Indeed, I can’t see the Villa paying the wages that Seb is wanting (rumoured to be in excess of £30k per week), and I think Seb will stay with us until the end of the season to leave on a Bosman. I believe the unfortunate player with be young Irish winger Jay O’Shea, who is currently on loan at Port Vale until the end of February.

A while back I made a post saying that whilst it would be nice if we flashed the cash in this window, it was more about who we signed to show ambition. Should we complete the signings of Davies and Martins, in addition to the capture of David Bentley on loan then I consider this window to have been a successful one, as we have strengthened both areas that desperately needed it (winger and striker), and added a defender where it was needed to cover a season long injury.

Tags: BCFC, Curtis Davies, David Bentley, Jay O'Shea, Obafemi Martins, Sebastian Larsson, Transfers