Often Partisan

Blues news roundup

As things have quietened down around St Andrews this week whilst the focus has been on international matches, I thought I’d just round up what’s been in the news for the last couple of days rather than concentrate on one single thing.

Manchester United defender Ritchie De Laet was linked with a loan move to Blues by the Mirror late on Monday night. The 23-year-old Belgian international is a centre back who can also play at full-back, which he did at Norwich whilst spending a loan spell there earlier this season. I asked a Norwich fan about him – he said that whilst De Laet was promising, he did get caught in possession at times and as such wasn’t quite good enough to be a Premier League centre-back. However, he can also play full back which makes him a versatile player and he’s in all probability good enough for the Championship. Blues have room to take another couple of “emergency loans” on – however, Blues are only allowed to have five loan players in any match day squad (currently they have four – N’Daw, Myhill, Huseklepp and Townsend).

I wouldn’t bank on De Laet coming to St Andrews however; Colin Tattum has tweeted this morning that it’s very unlikely to happen as Alex Ferguson doesn’t want him to leave on loan.

Four Blues players have been called up for international duty; three of whom may well play tonight. Nathan Redmond played for 35 minutes off the bench in the England u19 2-1 win over their Czech Republic counterparts; Keith Fahey is in the Republic of Ireland squad to face the Czech Republic senior side tonight. Jonathan Spector has been rewarded for his good form with a call-up for the USA, who face Italy and new signing Erik Huseklepp is in the Norwegian squad to face Northern Ireland. Nikola Zigic was not in the Serbia squad that beat Armenia 2-0 last night.

It’s been reported Blues are taking a Hednesford defender on trial. Cheyenne Dunkley, who is 20 was released by Crewe Alexandra and is due to come to Blues next week after the Pitmen’s fixture against Frickley. The Hednesford coaching staff are supposed to rate Dunkley highly and it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on at Wast Hills.

Blues reserve team won their latest game 1-0 yesterday with an 85th minute goal from midfielder Enric Valles. The Spaniard scored a 20 yarder to seal it for a young Blues side up against a Coventry side which contained the likes of Freddy Eastwood and Shaun Jeffers.

as has been noted by JohnR amongst other people, Keith Fahey has returned to Blues from Ireland duty as he has a minor injury and will not play.

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7 Responses to “Blues news roundup”

  • JohnR says:

    A couple of points Almajir. I thought I had read yesterday that Keith Fahey had been sent back to Blues. Why is it that Enric Valles doesn’t seem to get a look in with the first team squad. I think I’ve only seen him play once but he didn’t look too bad.

    • almajir says:

      I hadn’t heard anything re Fahey being sent back in all honesty.

      Re Valles – evidently Hughton disagrees with you and doesn’t think he’s good enough. He’s had lots of injuries too.

  • Alex T says:

    Regarding Valles, I have seen him once only as well. Although it was a friendly, he looked composed on the ball and seemed to be strong enough for the English league.

    It seems every week he is listed as injured, so at least he is getting some game time in the reserves now. I really hope he gets his chance in the Blues first team as I (and many others) think he is a quality prospect. I know we have seen very little of him, but it does seem that whenever he does play, he is always getting the plaudits. Also, as I recall he is a left sided midfielder which (even with Townsend) would be very helpful in our promotion push.

    I just hope he is as good as we think he is and that CH agrees!

  • Gibbsy says:

    I must admit that every time I read the reserves write ups, it seems Valles has scored a goal from 20 yards or so, but McEvil and CH both have refused to pick him, even on the bench in the ‘alternative’ cup squads, so perhaps they see flaws in his game, but it does seem strange.

  • NooBloo says:

    If every birmingham fan got their way and the player they wanted to play got a game then we would either have about 25 players on the pitch or never have a settled squad.

    We have had an unbeleivable run since the turn of the year apart from last weekend. i think we should just let our management and coaching staff get on with things because they see who is doing well in training and who is match fit.

    They are also the the ones who go scouting on the opposition and so far they arent doing a bad job so i am happy to let them pick the team.

    if we were struggling near the foot of the table i am sure i would be trying to pick the team for the management as well but the way things stand, I am more than happy with our season to date given all the underlying circumstances

  • […] New Boys It’s funny; yesterday I mentioned it being quiet around St Andrews and today we sign three players. Two of them (Cian Hughton and […]


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