Birmingham City really were in a league of their own at the summit of League One.
Chris Davies’ men blew away all of their competition with a mammoth 34 wins being picked up across 46 clashes, leading to the Blues ending the memorable campaign with a record-breaking 111 points next to their name.
The attack regularly stole the headlines as Jay Stansfield and Alfie May terrorised many a League One defence, but Birmingham also finished the season with the meanest defence when shipping just 34 strikes.
Still, Davies and Co will know the Championship will be a far trickier level when it comes to collecting clean sheets galore, with reported target Harry Darling one potential defensive purchase the Blues could now make heading into next campaign.
Birmingham's pursuit of Darling
The newly crowned champions of the third tier could end up landing Darling on a free transfer with his future at Swansea City remaining on shaky ground.
Undoubtedly, the 25-year-old could settle in nicely to his new environment at St. Andrew’s as a confident and composed performer out from the back, away from the brute forces already at Davies’ disposal in Christoph Klarer and Krystian Bielik.
Indeed, Darling would close out his impressive individual season with the Swans by chipping in with five league goals and three assists, on top of also averaging an unerring 53.9 accurate passes per league clash.
But, Birmingham could well land themselves a better signing than the in-demand centre-back by opting to go for this more experienced figure instead, who already knows the lay of the land in the West Midlands.
Exceptional target could be better than Darling for Birmingham
Davies won’t want to make wholesale changes for the sake of it, knowing full well his runaway League One leaders should be able to acclimatise back to the Championship smoothly.
Therefore, instead of signing Darling, the Blues could go all in to snap up former loanee Ben Davies on a permanent deal, with GIVEMESPORT revealing that this could soon be a deal that goes ahead, albeit after his parent side, Rangers, have appointed a new manager.
Darling might well be fresh off a stylish season with the Swans, but Davies is already very firmly in the hearts of Birmingham supporters for his battling performances that saw the Blues coast to the League One title.
Moreover, there’s no guarantee that the 25-year-old would be able to come in and complement the likes of Klarer and Bielik immediately. Whereas, with a season already done alongside the Austrian and the ex-Derby County man, it’s safe to say Davies knows all the quirks of their respective games and how he is able to slot in alongside them to form an imposing back-line.
Games played
35
43
32
Goals scored
1
1
1
Assists
1
3
0
Touches*
88.6
91.8
72.4
Accurate passes*
67.9 (88%)
68.4 (88%)
52.3 (88%)
Ball recoveries*
3.3
3.5
4.1
Clearances*
6.2
5.6
3.3
Total duels won*
6.3
7.5
5.8
Clean sheets
20
18
6
Looking at the table above, it’s no great shock to realise that Birmingham had the sternest defence in the division, with Davies picking up 20 clean sheets across 35 league clashes. Moreover, the 29-year-old’s gleaming average of nearly 70 accurate passes per game even betters Darling’s high amount.
With 151 career games already under his belt in the Championship too, it does feel like a no-brainer of a decision to make to bring back the “exceptional” defender, as he was lauded by his manager last season, over adding Darling into the camp.
Davies has already shown he’s more than ready for a return to the second tier by bossing League One, meaning a permanent deal will surely be struck up soon.
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