Birmingham could sign “incredible” striker who’d be Stansfield 2.0

Birmingham City supporters will already be excited about the 2025/26 campaign getting underway as they aim to become a top-end Championship side.

Chris Davies’ men haven’t actually finished in the top half of the second-tier since their tenth place finish at the close of the 2015/16 season, with their last adventure in the Premier League coming all the way back in 2011 before they tumbled down to League One.

But, there is a positive, new dawn at St. Andrew’s after the Blues accumulated a mighty 111 points to lift the third-tier title, meaning they will re-enter the Championship raring to succeed.

Plenty of new signings will soon come into the building to help Birmingham try and push on up a level too, but promotion hero Jay Stansfield will surely have a huge role to play in the West Midlands giants leaping up a division and taking it in their stride after setting League One alight.

Stansfield’s goalscoring heroics in 2024/25

The former Fulham striker entering Davies’ ranks last summer was seen as somewhat of a coup, considering he was pushing for some senior opportunities at Craven Cottage before calling St. Andrew’s his fixed home.

He wouldn’t dwell on his Cottagers exit for long, though, with the 22-year-old going on to fire home a mightily impressive 19 strikes in league action from 31 starts as Birmingham’s main leading man in attack.

There will be a hope now that Stansfield can kick on and cause Championship defences the same amount of bother.

After all, he has already tallied up 12 goals at the daunting level when previously on loan with the Blues, before joining permanently.

The ambitious outfit could even be about to sign their next iteration of Stansfield with Birmingham’s latest target also on the periphery of their Premier League employers but a more than capable player in the EFL.

Birmingham’s “incredible” new Stansfield

Despite already possessing Stansfield’s firepower, the Blues will be looking to make their attack even more deadly in the Championship, as seen in Davies’ men being linked with Kwame Poku and Che Adams.

Their latest target is Aston Villa forward Louie Barry, with GIVEMESPORT reporting that he is likely to be allowed to leave on loan. As a result, his name has allegedly been mentioned ‘internally’ at St Andrew’s by Tom Wagner and Co ahead of a summer move.

This would undoubtedly be a controversial move to seal, considering he would be crossing enemy lines from his parent employers Villa to the blue side of the Midlands.

But, controversy aside, adding Barry would definitely boost Birmingham’s attacking output when taking into account his whirlwind Stockport County loan stint.

Described as “incredible” by Declan Rice, the entertaining 21-year-old picking up a bumper 15 goals from just 22 league appearances for the Hatters this season, proving, that like Stansfield, he knows how to find the back of the net away from the top-flight.

Sadly, despite tearing League One to shreds with Dave Challinor’s side, no real meaningful senior opportunities have come the attacker’s way at Villa Park, as seen in him picking up just one solitary first-team chance.

Therefore, much like Stansfield’s journey, Barry might well view Birmingham as the next best choice for his development, regardless of any heated rivalries between Villa and the Blues.

Down the line, he might even view St. Andrew’s as a place where he could permanently reside, especially if his new potential team soar to some great heights making the step back up to the challenging Championship.