Birmingham City fan pundit keen to see Blues seal permanent Nottingham Forest transfer agreement | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk‘ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Birmingham City forward Lyle Taylor is the one loanee the Blues have the most realistic chance of signing permanently during the summer window of all their current temporary players, according to FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit Tom Oxland who dropped his prediction.

The 31-year-old has already become a fan favourite at St Andrew’s after scoring three times in his opening four league appearances for the Blues since his loan move from Nottingham Forest in the latter stages of last month.

Following his move to the City Ground after the expiration of his contract at Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2020, he failed to impress during his first season with Forest and although he scored on the opening day of the 2021/22 campaign at Coventry City, his fortunes failed to improve this term.

Quiz: Can you name which club Birmingham City signed these 25 non-British players from?

1 of 25

Ivan Sunjic

Dinamo Zagreb Rijeka Hajduk Split Dynamo Kyiv

With this, he was shipped out on loan to the West Midlands to link up with Lee Bowyer during the winter window, a man he knows well from their time together at former club Charlton and has hit the ground running alongside other January additions including Onel Hernandez and Juninho Bacuna, with the latter arriving on a permanent deal from Rangers.

Taylor, on the other hand, is only scheduled to be at St Andrew’s until the end of the campaign before returning to Steve Cooper’s men, though it remains to be seen whether he’s deemed surplus to requirements, with promotion for the Reds likely to see him frozen out of the first-team picture for the long term.

One fan that would jump at the chance to recruit him permanently is FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit Oxland, who believes his side have a real chance of doing so.

Speaking to Football League World, he said: “This is an interesting question because I am firmly in the camp of let’s sign Lyle Taylor as soon as possible – because it’s amazing what a proper, clinical finisher can do for a side.

“I think it’s common knowledge now how well Lee Bowyer and Lyle Taylor work together, so it’s a great fit for us.

“I think the only problem is our Technical Director Craig Gardner has come out and said earlier in the season that we won’t want to sign players that are over 28 years old in attacking areas.

“We want to sign young and hungry talent from potentially lower divisions, look to build up and follow more modern models of getting into the top half of the Championship these days.

“However, I just feel Taylor’s form is undeniable and I feel like you’ve got guaranteed goals in Lyle Taylor, so we would be silly not to go in for him.

“Craig Gardner has broken his transfer policy before so hopefully he’ll do it again and sign Lyle Taylor and hopefully Onel Hernandez as well who’s been a very, very key player for us of late.

“There’s two loan signings right there that Blues fans are falling in love with – but we’ve also fallen in love with Tahith Chong.

“We’d all want them back permanently but I feel like we’ll probably only manage one and I do believe Lyle Taylor is the most realistic of those three.

“So we’ll have to wait and see but I really do hope we sign him.”

The Verdict:

If Norwich City fall back into the Championship next term, they will probably want to utilise Hernandez so there are certainly no guarantees that he will be available next season – and certainly not permanently.

In terms of Chong, Birmingham fans already know they won’t be able to afford him – and even though United may want to cash in on him seeing as he’s 22 now – it would be hard to see their owners forking out the money required to lure him to the Midlands on a permanent basis.

But Taylor is definitely one player they should be looking to target if they can maintain their current run of form – because regardless of which league Forest are competing in next season – he’s unlikely to be utilised by Cooper who has already given him the cold shoulder.

In fairness, Keinan Davis may return to Aston Villa at the end of the campaign and if the Birmingham loanee performs particularly well, they may want him back. However, the 31-year-old may want a move away at that point if he’s tasted success elsewhere.

And Forest may even be in the top tier next season. If that’s the case, it would be extremely difficult to see them keeping him in their first-team squad after failing to prove himself at the City Ground thus far.