Birmingham City are in the market for reinforcements and there are multiple free agents who could be of interest. The club made their first move in the summer transfer window earlier this week by bringing Jhon Solis back to St Andrew’s. Blues exercised their option to buy Solis, 21, from Spanish side Girona after a successful 18-game loan spell last season.
The club’s summer business should ramp up in the coming weeks with the players due to return for pre-season. Blues will need to recruit smartly in the transfer window to stand a chance of upsetting the applecart next season and beating one of relegated trio West Ham, Burnley and Wolves to promotion.
There are some free agents now on the market that might be of interest to Blues’ recruitment team. Here are the seven best fits for Blues from what’s out there…
Illan Meslier
The Championship goalkeeper market is going to be fascinating to watch this summer and Blues need a new man after James Beadle’s return to Brighton. French stopper Meslier has taken a lot of stick for some high profile mistakes during the 2024/25 season for Leeds, but he was still their number one en route to the Championship title. And his numbers were quite good. Meslier kept 21 clean sheets in 39 league games and had a save percentage of 72.
Dael Fry
Fry proved himself to be one of the Championship’s best left-sided central defenders last season. The expectation is that he will stay at boyhood club Middlesbrough but if there’s even a glimmer of hope, Blues should make it happen.
Sam Morsy
Some will look at Morsy, who will turn 35 in September, and wonder why Blues would bother but he possesses a key ingredient that was missing last season: Championship experience. Morsy’s availability record has been excellent in recent seasons and he captained Ipswich to promotion two years ago. Blues could use a midfielder who can occasionally act as a ‘finisher’ to help them see out games in the Championship and the technically and tactically astute Morsy wouldn’t be a bad bet on a one-year contract.
Billy Mitchell
Mitchell has turned down three contract offers from Millwall and will be inundated with Championship offers. In the same way Blues could use a Morsy-type to see games out, a dogged midfielder like Mitchell could be of use too. We saw last season how important physicality is in the engine room and Solis won’t be able to provide that in every single game.
Dan Neil
In Neil you get one of the Championship’s best midfielders of the last few years – and he’s still only 24. Neil has been a casualty of Sunderland’s sharp rise but he would be a great pick-up for any Championship side going into next season. He would come with the added bonus of knowing how to get the job done too, having celebrated promotions with Sunderland and Ipswich in the last two seasons.
Ross Stewart
Scotland international Stewart wasn’t expected to be available this summer but Southampton missed their deadline to exercise their extension option in the 29-year-old’s contract. Stewart notched 10 goals in 15 starts for Southampton last season, with another 18 appearances off the bench, and appears to be over the injuries which limited his football in the three seasons prior. Blues need another striking option to compete with Jay Stansfield and August Priske, and the experienced, proven Stewart would be a good choice.
Myles Peart-Harris
Every other option on this list is a proven Championship performer – attacking midfielder Peart-Harris isn’t, but he did show bags of promise in a struggling Oxford side last season. Peart-Harris played 19 games for the U’s after joining in January from Brentford and managed three goals and two assists. Blues are looking to lower the age profile of their signings from last summer, when they bet big on experience, and Peart-Harris would be an intriguing project.
