EFL expert outlines niggling Jay Stansfield concerns as Birmingham City should have ‘expected more’

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Birmingham City were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1995, but look set to bounce back up to the Championship at the first time of asking.

With Chris Davies now at the helm and under new ownership, Blues have certainly shown ambition and the first shoots of a potential start of an exciting new dawn had begun to spring last year, even if relegation undid some of the good work initially.

There was no doubting that Birmingham had plenty of money behind them to go and build a good squad in League One. They hit the headlines in the summer, when they bought striker Jay Stansfield from Fulham after his successful loan spell last season in the Championship.

That fee was reported by Sky Sports to be in excess of £15 million, which is a simply staggering fee for a club in the third tier of the pyramid. Although other reports suggest closer to £12 million with add-ons, including Birmingham Live.

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EFL expert Ali Maxwell expects more from Jay Stansfield

Stansfield has failed to register a goal or an assist for the last five games now, which is why we have also called for him to be dropped for Alfie May ahead of the clash with Bristol Rovers.

EFL experts Ali Maxwell and George Elek of the Not The Top 20 podcast have had their say on the situation regarding Stansfield, given the expectation on his shoulders due to a hefty price tag.

Maxwell said: “I wonder if it’s worth having just a small chat about Jay Stansfield, who didn’t score in this game. It’s not really fair to expect someone to score a million goals, just because they are the record ever transfer fee at the level.

“But I hope it’s alright to say — I caveat it with this is a young player and young person that I really love and really want to do incredibly well — but I expected he would score more goals in League One this season.

“Particularly playing for a team on course for 100 points. I really hope we can have that conversation in a way that means we’re not getting the flamethrower out or hugely criticising him.

“But for a player who is very good at shooting — and we saw it last season. His movement? Excellent. His finishing? Excellent. I just wanted to raise it, really. Because he is top scorer in the league. Clearly a lot of those goals have been from the penalty spot.

“As someone who prefers to know how many goals someone has scored outside of penalties, because I think that’s a stronger reflection of performance level and more fair to compare them to others in the division who don’t take pens, this is a guy who has scored 0.38 non-penalty goals per 90.

“Which is fairly middling, I would suggest. That is the 16th best in the league for players that have played more than 1300 minutes. And 13 players that have scored more non-penalty goals this season.”

He added: “It’s one where it’s worth pointing out, George, that his pressing is immense. It’s a huge part of his game and all of his pressing data, counter-pressures, tackles when adjusted for possession — he is basically the best in the league when it comes to that.

“But that’s probably not what you spend all of the money on. It’s probably the goalscoring. It’s probably that side of his game that has him considered one of the brightest young strikers in the English pyramid.

“Maybe the pressure, expectation, fatigue from the fixture list as to why Stansfield hasn’t been plundering goals to the level that we might have expected in this Blues side.

“There’s definitely a case next season in the Championship where he’s going to be attacking against teams that aren’t just packing their defence with defensive bodies. There should be more space for him to play into.

“I think his movement is a real strong part of his game. I think he’s someone that would prefer to be running into space than basically bouncing off big defenders. Physically and aerially is not a huge strength of his.”

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Jay Stansfield’s goal and assist stats in 2024/25

Stansfield is a 22-year-old with an extremely bright future ahead of him, but development isn’t linear and isn’t simple for such a young footballer.

He is going to have peaks and troughs at this stage, while it’s not abundantly clear what type of forward he will be in the long-term. Is Stansfield a centre-forward? Is he a wide forward? Is he better in a front two or as a lone striker?

Questions regarding his future are fair, but it’s evident that he is extremely talented and impactful, even if his recent form has dipped somewhat. Managing his minutes and figuring out where is best to utilise him could become clearer next season in the Championship.

That is where they will be playing next season. Birmingham are breaking recent League One records along the way, with some statistics annihilated as they get ever closer to wrapping up the title in the near future. They are currently 12 points clear of third-placed Wycombe Wanderers.

Tom Brady’s investment looks set to continue in 2025, as we exclusively revealed their summer plans recently. There could be more Jay Stansfield’s to come for Birmingham in the near future.