Birmingham City will be looking to press on this summer with even more exciting signings joining the St Andrew’s camp.
Chris Davies has recently stated that this is the intention when speaking to Birmingham Live, with seven brand new faces entering the club already not quite enough, as he insists that this newly promoted side needs ‘all the quality we can get’ to hit the ground running in the Championship.
Another striker addition might now be deemed a priority, with a report by Football League World revealing that Alfie May is set to leave Davies and Co. behind for a fresh League One challenge at Huddersfield Town.
This would be a big blow that the Blues would have to address, considering how many times last campaign the experienced centre-forward came up clutch for his promotion-chasing outfit with crucial goals.
Why losing May is a blow for Birmingham
Of course, around £10m has just been splashed out to land Kyogo Furuhashi as a thrilling capture up top, but May regularly proved during the Blues’ promotion heroics his vital nature from off the bench, which could well have been an effective calling card up a league too.
From just 27 starts last season in league action, May rifled home a mightily impressive 16 strikes, with Jay Stansfield the only other venomous attacker in Davies’ ranks that managed to hit double digits.
However, whilst the 32-year-old is a well-known beast at the testing level – with 89 goals and counting in the third tier – he has never once set foot in the Championship, with the EFL veteran’s legs perhaps not well suited to such a demanding step-up.
This is where an earlier £10m striker target on the Birmingham shopping list could come to the rescue and be a dream replacement for the departing May, with the target in question even tasting promotion up to the Premier League just last season, whilst Davies’ men soared to the top of League One.
Birmingham's "dynamite" May replacement
Whilst there will be some sorrow regarding May’s exit when looking at his starring role in that promotion story, the second tier is an unforgiving terrain which will have factored into Birmingham’s somewhat cut-throat decision-making.
May’s exit would soon be forgotten about if the Blues did fork out £10m to land Leeds United reserve striker Mateo Joseph, with reports back in June stating that the triumphant League One champions were keen on winning the services of the Spanish hotshot, as interest now emerges from Joseph’s native country in the form of Real Betis.
Games played
39
Games started
11
Minutes per game
33 mins
Goals scored
3
Assists
3
The standout numbers from the table above really do hammer home why Joseph would be an ideal replacement for the soon-to-be Terriers attacker, with the 21-year-old offering the same amount of firepower from off the bench last season in the Championship that May offered in spades back at St. Andrew’s, as seen in his blistering six goal contributions from a meagre 11 starts.
With a further four strikes next to his name for the Whites, which included a breakneck brace finding the back of the net against Chelsea last year, he might just be capable of turning up that goalscoring notch even more if he’s given regular first-team minutes in the West Midlands.
The “dynamite” attacker – as he’s been labelled in the past by U23 scout Antonio Mango – would give Davies the best possible selection headache subsequently, with his Leeds manager in Daniel Farke, also going out of his way to shower the up-and-coming striker with praise when hailing his link-up play as “excellent.”
In an ideal world, Birmingham might have kept May around for the long run as he then finally made a name for himself in the EFL’s elite setting.
Yet, the one-season hero is now closing in on a £1.2m move to Huddersfield, meaning Joseph could be just what Birmingham desire to get over May’s exit swiftly and improve their overall squad.
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