Luton Town Eye Birmingham City Player Following Barcelona Scouting Mission
Championship, EFL, League One, News, Transfer News
Luton Town are keeping tabs on Birmingham City fringe player Lee Buchanan as the League One club weighs up a potential move for the defender.
The 25-year-old’s place in the Blues squad is under threat ahead of the opening weekend of the season following the signing of Kristoffer Lund from Serie A side Palermo.
Powell Keeping Tabs
The Danish-born American’s arrival at St. Andrew’s, combined with fellow left-back Alex Cochrane’s emergence as another option for Chris Davies to select means that Powell could be reduced to a third-string role at Birmingham.
The potential of limited game time has alerted at least one club to potentially try a move for Buchanan in the form of Luton Town, who, according to Birmingham Live, sent assistant manager Chris Powell to watch City’s pre-season friendly against Barcelona.
Blues boss Davies has confirmed he will be holding talks with the 25-year-old, who has not played a competitive game in over 20 months due to a long-term knee injury suffered against Blackpool back in 2024.
“It’s been really hard for Lee because he’s just broken down in the two years I’ve been here with a couple of nasty injuries, but he’s strung together a pre-season now which is really promising.
“I’ll speak to Lee in the next coming weeks. For him, regardless of anything right now, the main focus has to be to keep getting fitter and stronger and then we’ll work out what the right path forward is.”
Luton are exploring several options within the Blues squad that played against the Spanish giants, with Buchanan eyed as a potential option to compete with Kal Naismith and Joseph Johnson for regular game time at Kenilworth Road.
Town Could Revitalise Career
After nearly two horrid years for Lee Buchanan, he is now finally on the cusp of being able to start a season injury-free, but is still facing an uphill battle to get a place in Birmingham City’s plans next season.
Having swapped out Kai Wagner for Kristoffer Lund this window, minutes may be extremely limited for the former Derby County man while also battling for Alex Cochrane to play deputy to the new addition.
Luton Town could offer an ideal out for the 25-year-old with two years still to run on his contract in the West Midlands, and with Kal Naismith not getting any younger, he has a serious chance to become a regular in Jack Wilshere’s plans.
Buchanan has gone close to two years without a senior competitive appearance due to his fitness issues, and while that may prove to be a detraction to any potential suitors, if a club can keep him fit then he is a worthwhile addition.
With over 100 Championship matches under his belt during his career so far, the left-back may be the ideal signing for a Luton side which are leaning to a younger profile to try and battle out of what is shaping up to be a highly-competitive League One season.