£12.8m Premier League ace ‘declined’ interest from Leicester City, Southampton and Birmingham City

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The Championship trio were ‘interested’ in signing the in-demand winger, but he rejected their advances.

As a result of their Premier League promotion ambitions, each of Leicester City, Southampton and Birmingham City completed business on transfer deadline day.

Leicester signed Julian Carranza from Feyenoord on loan, Southampton signed Leo Scienza at the expense of Paris FC, and Birmingham brought in Patrick Roberts on loan from Sunderland.

However, the Championship trio were “interested” in an out-of-favour Premier League talent, but were all rejected ahead of the summer transfer window deadline.

• READ MORE: Alan Browne reveals what qualities he will bring to ‘massive’ Middlesbrough during Sunderland loan

Bournemouth’s Romain Faivre rejected Leicester, Southampton and Birmingham

After all 24 Championship clubs concluded their business, several sides were fortunate not to lose key figures for the 2025/26 season.

Some of the deadline day deals that never happened included Gustavo Hamer’s exit from Sheffield United and Hyunjun Yang’s failed switch from Celtic to the Blues.

In addition to those, another Championship deal which never materialised before the deadline was regarding Bournemouth winger Romain Faivre.

As per the BBC, the Cherries shelled out a £12.8m fee to FC Lorient for Faivre’s services in the summer of 2023, but the Frenchman has failed to make an impact at the Vitality Stadium.

Following loans back to Lorient and with Brest, Faivre appeared to be on the move this summer, and reports have emerged that the winger “declined” discussions with the aforementioned second tier trio.

Sky Sports News reporter Mark McAdam revealed on X: “Romain Faivre’s last minute move to Verona fell through because the player had a change of heart.

“Leicester, Southampton, Birmingham and Copenhagen were all clubs that expressed an interest in signing the 27-year-old; but he declined the opportunity to speak to them.”

With Faivre scoring just three goals and notching three assists in 32 games on loan at Ligue 1 Brest last season, each of the three interested parties have dodged a costly and risky transfer.

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Birmingham City have made right call to sign Patrick Roberts after Romain Faivre snub

Following the snub from Faivre, the Blues quickly moved on to other options on the right flank with the loan capture of Black Cats star Roberts.

Birmingham beat Derby County to Roberts because of Chris Davies’ connection to the former Celtic loanee, and it is evident that the Blues have made the correct decision.

With Transfermarkt reporting that Faivre’s value sits at the £5.2m mark, the Blues would have had to shell out a significant fee for the Frenchman.

However, Birmingham have signed a player in Roberts without the need for a transfer fee, who contributed more combined goal contributions last season than Faivre.

With Roberts out of contract at the Stadium of Light next summer, if he performs as impressively as he did last season amid Sunderland’s promotion to the top flight, there is potential for the move to be made permanent for free after the end of this season.

Each of these factors points towards Birmingham completing a much more financially sensible signing in the loan acquisition of the Black Cats fan-favourite.