Birmingham City must trim their senior squad before the EFL's 25-man squad deadline, with the transfer window closing at 11pm tonight. As of now, the club has 27 senior players, exceeding the limit by two.
Clubs must inform the EFL of their 25-man squads for the period up to January by the close of play tomorrow, September 2. Birmingham City currently have 27 senior players, including third-choice goalkeeper Brad Mayo and injured midfielders Marc Leonard and Taylor Gardner-Hickman.
Under-21 Rules and Squad Composition
The EFL handbook states: “For Season 2026/27 an Under 21 Player is someone born on or after 1 January 2005.” Mayo, Jhon Solis, and August Priske will count towards Blues’ official squad this year as they are no longer classed as under-21 players.
Leonard isn’t expected to be fit until the New Year, and Chris Davies has ruled Gardner-Hickman out for ‘months’, so it’s feasible that he could leave one or both out of the club’s 25-man squad. However, the onus is on Blues to shift some of their excess players before tonight’s 11pm deadline.
Potential Departures and Incoming Transfers
The obvious candidates to leave on permanent deals are Kanya Fujimoto and Marvin Ducksch, while Lee Buchanan and Scott Wright could be allowed out if they sit outside the first team picture. Buchanan hasn’t made Blues’ Championship squads, while Wright is some way down the pecking order.
Blues are looking to close deals to sign Ghanaian forward Mohammed Funeisi and Canadian winger Liam Millar, both of whom will need to be added to the squad, which makes it more important that players are offloaded.
Current Squad Overview
Goalkeepers: James Beadle, Ryan Allsop, Brad Mayo. Defenders: Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ethan Laird, Christoph Klarer, Phil Neumann, Dael Fry, Jack Robinson, Alex Cochrane, Kristoffer Lund, Lee Buchanan. Midfielders: Paik Seung-ho, Tomoki Iwata, Jhon Solis, Max Bird, Marc Leonard, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Kanya Fujimoto. Wingers: Carlos Vicente, Patrick Roberts, Demarai Gray, Scott Wright. Strikers: Jay Stansfield, August Priske, Luis Vazquez, Marvin Ducksch.
The club must finalise its squad list by the September 2 deadline, and any players not included will be ineligible for league matches until January.
