Halil Dervisoglu, a Turkish international striker, caught the attention of the Blues late in the day, but the player himself foiled their attempts.
Birmingham City had to be selective in their January transfer window acquisitions, bringing in three new midfielders in Alex Pritchard, Paik Seung-ho, and Andre Dozzell, due to financial constraints that appeared to impact many Championship teams.
However, many supporters would contend that other positions also needed to be strengthened, with the first need being some new competition up front for Fulham loanee Jay Stansfield.
Even though Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz were still listed as Stansfield’s understudies during the transfer window, it seems that Birmingham was making an effort to close transactions, particularly for Halil Dervisoglu.
Striker Dervisoglu of Galatasaray declines a transfer to Birmingham City
Journalist Kaya Temal said in Türkiye that Birmingham attempted to improve their offensive line late in the January transfer window by pursuing Dervisoglu.
Dervisoglu wasn’t too excited about returning to England, even if his club, the Turkish powerhouse Galatasaray, was glad to approve the appropriate transaction. Dervisoglu had joined Gala on a permanent basis in the summer of 2023 after leaving Brentford.
Furthermore, even though Tony Mowbray was able to sign three midfielders, he was unable to add any new players to his final third possibilities because Dervisoglu, who has 16 caps for Türkiye’s national team, declined a transfer to St. Andrews.
Dervisoglu did not just reject Birmingham, though; the former Bees player also turned down FC Twente, a Dutch team that transferred striker Manfred Ugalde to Spartak Moscow for €15 million during the summer window. Ugalde had previously played on loan for the Bees.
It is doubtful, though, if Dervisoglu has declined offers from other teams in an effort to try to increase his playing time at his present team.
After appearing in just 12 games for the London team over the course of four years, including loan stints at Twente, Galatasaray, and last season’s Burnley, where he played in just nine games, Dervisoglu permanently left Brentford last summer.
After Dervisoglu and Galatasaray paid €500,000 to rejoin, the player appeared in 20 games across all competitions in the first half of the season, with just six of those appearances coming from starts.
Dervisoglu will probably play less until the conclusion of the season due to Mauro Icardi’s injury comeback, but it appears that he would much prefer battle for his spot in Istanbul than transfer to Birmingham or Twente.
The cost of Birmingham not acquiring a striker might be high.
Birmingham must continue live within their means despite their significant purchase by American hedge fund manager Tom Wagner last summer, as a result of significant losses incurred in previous years.
With the EFL’s profit and sustainability standards covering a rolling three-year term, many teams are in a similar situation. This summer will see increased spending.
The expected Birmingham City XI to play Sheffield Wednesday on Friday is Pritchard out, 4-2-3-1.
Birmingham themselves recruited Paik Seung-ho on a free transfer, loaned out Andre Dozzell, and spent very little on Alex Pritchard of Sunderland, so it’s obvious that there wasn’t much leeway in the budget until a sale was made or significant salaries were relocated.
Fans should be pleased to learn that Mowbray and company were actively searching for a new forward, but ultimately, they will have to make do with Stansfield, Hogan, and Jutkiewicz. The latter two have only scored three goals in the league this year, which may prove to be a factor in Birmingham’s potential struggles to the end of the season.