It makes sense that Premier League teams and some of the best teams in Europe have expressed a great deal of interest in Jordan James.
Despite the inadequacies of numerous players and other personnel at Birmingham City, the Wales international has garnered a lot of praise this season.
He has been one of the few aspects of Birmingham that fans can look at and be delighted with after a season full of strange decisions and perplexing performances.
His play this season has drawn interest from numerous elite teams and placed him in the top three for the Championship’s Young Player of the Year award, alongside Jonathan Rowe of Norwich City and Archie Gray of Leeds United. During the January transfer window, Atalanta, an Italian team, reportedly made a €5 million bid for the 19-year-old James. Other teams reportedly interested in James include Fiorentina and Bologna.
The Premier League’s Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Crystal Palace are among the other teams identified as potential suitors for the midfielder.The Daily Mail claims that Birmingham values the teenager at £10 million.
James might have to deal with the Blues as they get further and further involved in the relegation struggle. Soccer analyst Carlton Palmer thinks that in the event of their relegation, this would occur.
Cartlon Palmer on Jordan James’ likelihood of remaining with Birmingham City for the upcoming season
If the Blues end up in the bottom three, the former England midfielder doesn’t see how they will be able to hold onto the player.
He stated, “Birmingham are in huge trouble at the bottom of the Championship,” in an interview with Football League World. The number of things that can go wrong when you make the wrong choice is astounding. Although I have nothing against Wayne Rooney, I believe it was a bad move to fire John Eustace and bring him into the football team. The fans had high expectations for Wayne, but Wayne forced the players to perform in a style that they were not capable of.
“Tony Mowbray was a fantastic choice they made after that. That was a rather wise choice, in my opinion. However, they now face a serious issue because he needs to take sick leave. With 42 points, they are among the bottom three and face severe difficulties. Out of their last six games, they have suffered four or five losses. Relegation to League One will make it extremely difficult for players like James to continue at Birmingham.
| Championship Table (As it stands April 8th) | ||||
| Team | P | GD | Pts | |
| 17 | QPR | 41 | -14 | 46 |
| 18 | Stoke City | 41 | -16 | 46 |
| 19 | Plymouth Argyle | 41 | -9 | 44 |
| 20 | Millwall | 41 | -16 | 44 |
| 21 | Huddersfield Town | 41 | -20 | 43 |
| 22 | Birmingham City | 41 | -18 | 42 |
| 23 | Sheffield Wednesday | 41 | -31 | 42 |
| 24 | Rotherham United | 41 | -50 | 23 |
“The player is the subject of a lot of interest. He would stay and continue to play football if they were to win the championship. If they are in the second tier, there’s still a chance that they will be able to profit from him in order to rebuild and avoid ending up in a similar predicament. Their new owners are quite wealthy.
James is the subject of a lot of interest.To retain him, Birmingham would need to first maintain their Championship standing. I don’t see how he would be able to stay with the team come next season without that.”
Under Eustace’s leadership, the Blues had a great start to the season, but they soon shot themselves in the foot, leg, arm, and are currently on the verge of shooting themselves in the face.
Whether they make the drop or not, they need to take a close look at what went wrong this season because their current situation is entirely self-inflicted. Moves like bringing in Gary Rowett until the end of the season and selecting Mowbray to replace Rooney are sensible and understandable decisions.
Despite adding some quality players in the offseason, they have still managed to make mistakes this season. Koji Miyoshi, Siriki Dembélé, Cody Drameh, and Jay Stansfield. Despite signing a number of good players at the beginning of the season, they have managed to absolutely screw things up.