Birmingham City transfer target told to take ‘massive step’ and join Tom Wagner’s club this summer

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Birmingham City are looking to strengthen several areas of their squad in the current transfer window.

Crystal Palace’s Jesurun Rak-Sakyi is linked to Birmingham, but Sheffield United also hold an interest.

Said link emerged in the same week we broke the news that James Beadle was signing on loan from Premier League outfit Brighton and Hove Albion.

Birmingham are targeting five key positions in the summer transfer window, with one of those being a winger.

Kwame Poku is a long-time target, while reports over the last week or so have linked Aston Villa’s Louie Barry with a move.

Emile Heskey on Louie Barry joining Birmingham City

News of Birmingham’s interest in landing Barry this summer has now been discussed by Emile Heskey.

Heskey spent two years with the Midlands outfit following a transfer from Liverpool in 2004.

And when speaking to Football League World, the now 47-year-old has shared his view that a Birmingham move would be a ‘massive step’ for Barry.

He said: “He’s coming of age, isn’t he? He’s been a wonderkid and shown what he can do but now is a step to really establish himself as a first-team regular in the Championship, which is probably the fifth or sixth-best league in the world.

“I think it’s great to see that he’s performing that way to then have the likes of Birmingham looking at him because we’ve seen so many wonderkids fall off, but he seems to be taking the right steps, and this could be a massive step for him to start establishing himself.

“I followed him for years when he was playing for the England youths, so there’s no reason why he can’t start having aspirations of the [England] first team.”

Louie Barry stats vs Kwame Poku

Barry enjoyed a prolific loan stint in League One with Stockport County in the first half of 2024/25.

But he was recalled by Villa in January and sent back out on loan to Hull City, where he was almost immediately injured and missed the remainder of the campaign.

Despite this, he still managed to score an impressive 15 League One goals and provide three assists in 23 matches for Stockport.

As for Poku, who is also wanted by Birmingham, he found the net 12 times and assisted eight in 27 league fixtures for Peterborough United.