Birmingham City haven’t quite blown away the Championship when assessing the Blues’ recent form in the difficult division.
Pre-season expectations would have focused on Chris Davies’ men being in line for the unbelievable feat of back-to-back promotions, but after nine hit-and-miss games in the second tier, the West Midlands giants currently occupy an unsatisfactory 16th spot.
While Davies and Co. attempt to get their early-season back on track, former Birmingham star Jordan James is now strutting his stuff for a side further up the division in Leicester City, with some regret surely on the end of the second-tier newcomers for letting him go when they did.
James' fantastic start at Leicester
James is arguably a forgotten star at St. Andrew’s, having suddenly become a bright spark for the Blues when relegation was served up last year.
Indeed, despite his boyhood club falling to League One in depressing fashion, James would go on to bag eight goals during his swansong season, with a move to Rennes in France then opening up for the breakout Welshman.
He has since shown off a similar Midas touch in front of goal on the books of Marti Cifuentes’ Foxes, who he moved to this summer initially on loan, with a £4.3m fee in play if they want to make the switch a permanent one.
Off the back of this stunner, finding the back of the net away at Swansea City last time out, on top of him collecting a further goal and assist from five other Championship appearances, James has certainly lived up to his billing of being a “Rolls-Royce” performer that was once handed to him by content creator Jordan Webber.
Yet, despite James already impressing in his new location, Birmingham arguably sold an even bigger talent than their former academy sensation when letting another star go for just £3m back in 2023.
Birmingham already sold a bigger talent than James
At least with James, Birmingham managed to get the very best out of him, even if it was for a short but sweet period of time.
In the case of Jobe Bellingham, however, the Blues prematurely gave up their former number 27 before he could blossom into the world beater he is today.
Amazingly, Bellingham would never go on to pick up a goal or assist in the senior picture at St. Andrew’s from 26 appearances, despite scoring five goals in the Blues U18s set-up previously.
It’s even more staggering to think of Bellingham somewhat struggling to adjust to the men’s game when you consider what has since followed, with the 20-year-old going on to be an overwhelming success story with Sunderland, unlike James, who struggled to kick on away from his boyhood side, before then returning to the EFL after a mixed stint in France.
With hindsight on side, Sunderland very much won themselves an unreal bargain by picking up Bellingham just for £3m, with his first full season on Wearside seeing him pick up a standout seven strikes, even as the Black Cats finished in a lowly 16th spot.
It was the following season, with Regis Le Bris at the helm, that Bellingham would mature even more into the superstar we know today, with a further seven goal contributions coming his way to seal Sunderland’s long-awaited return to the big time.
If Birmingham had exercised more patience and batted away onlookers, it is staggering to think what they could have got out of one of their own, instead of cashing in when they did, with Dan Neil even going as far as to brand his ex-teammate as a “freak of nature” for how effortlessly he became a Sunderland first-team presence.
James’ sale would have been stomached far more easily, considering he was sold on for £1m more at the £4m mark, with midfield talents such as Tomoki Iwata also being purchased that same summer, making it very straightforward for Davies’ side to sweep his move to Ligue 1 under the carpet.
On the contrary, losing Bellingham for £3m is a major mishap looking back, with the brand-new Borussia Dortmund number seven moving to Germany this summer just gone for a whopping £27.8m.
While there will be regrets in the air about both homegrown products upping and leaving, Birmingham will not want to bathe in the past for too long, as they attempt to turn around their poor form when the international break is over.