While Chris Davies’ Birmingham City return to the Championship boasting the sort of budget many second-tier teams can only dream of, there is a downside to possessing such highly-publicised spending power.
The problem is, when you’ve got as much money as Birmingham City have, clubs tend to realise they can demand higher prices for their prized assets.
The Tom Wagner-backed Birmingham made Jay Stansfield League One’s most expensive footballer ever just last summer, after all. Christoph Klarer and Willum Willumsson also arrived at St Andrews for considerable sums, while leaving top-flight European leagues for the third tier of English football in the process.
EFL Analysis understands that Birmingham are keen on Carlos Vicente of Deportivo Alaves. One of last season’s breakout talents in La Liga is reportedly valued in the region of £7 million.
Shock links with Kyogo Furuhashi emerged last week too. Despite underwhelming at Rennes, the Brittany-based outfit will still hope to recoup most if not all of the £10 million they paid Celtic in January.
Furthermore, Birmingham have reportedly joined the race for Kyogo’s fellow Japan international Shuto Machino. Following a fine campaign in the Bundesliga with Holstein Kiel, Machino is another who would eat up a sizeable chunk of The Blues’ admittedly-inflated budget.
Shuto Machino scores during Japan v Indonesia - FIFA World Cup Asian 3rd Qualifier
Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images
Birmingham City must pay £8.5m at least for Holstein Kiel’s Shuto Machino
It was reported this week, via Give Me Sport, that Birmingham could look to add another East Asian player to their ranks following the success of their wondergoal-specialist midfielder Tomoki Iwata.
Shuto Machino, making his name on German soil a la former Dortmund playmaker Shinji Kagawa, was the brightest of sparks in a Holstein Kiel team who battled bravely, if in vain, against the drop.
The versatile attacker netted 11 Bundesliga goals in 23 starts, including a brace in a thrilling 4-3 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach. As such, he outscored Liverpool’s £116 million record signing Florian Wirtz, RB Leipzig talisman Xavi Simons and Belgium striker Lois Openda, to name but three.
To think, Birmingham could have signed Machino for just £3 million a month ago. That release clause expired, however, at the end of May.
Now, as sporting director Olaf Rebbe explains to Sky Germany, Holstein Kiel are looking for a 10 million euro fee. Or, if you like, around £8.5 million.
“We have a pain threshold,” Rebbe says. “It is in the double-digit million range.”
Machino is a ‘true goalscorer’ who could ease the burden on Jay Stansfield
Machino, then, would sit behind only League One promotion hero Stansfield and just ahead of Emile Heskey in the list of Birmingham’s most expensive-ever acquisitions.
A forward with four goals in eight Japan caps featured more often than not as a centre-forward last season.
Machino is also capable of thriving as a left winger or in the hole behind the number nine, though, meaning he could prove to be the perfect foil for the hard-running Stansfield in a new-look front two.
Marcel Rapp, the head coach at Holstein Kiel, believes Shuto Machino proved himself in the Bundesliga to be a natural finisher. Such was the variety of his eleven goals, two came with his head, two with his left foot, while there was also fine a free-kick in there for good measure during the 5-1 drubbing of Augsburg.
“Shuto is a true goalscorer with a great finish, both with his right foot, his left foot, and with his head,” Rapp said. “He also has the right instinct to score in the box.
“Furthermore, his mentality is that of an absolute team player.”