Birmingham City made £2m transfer blunder with Besiktas decision - Tom Wagner surely won't make the same mistake | OneFootball

Kerim Frei's spell with Blues was short-lived and forgettable

Since Knighthead Capital Management completed their highly-anticipated takeover of Birmingham City in 2023, the club's on and off-pitch activity has continuously caught the eye.

One of the biggest factors behind such discourse has been Blues' transfer business, especially during the summer of 2024, which saw owner, Tom Wagner, blow the club's and League One's record spend out of the water, as the divisional transfer record was smashed three times throughout the window, ending with a stunning move which saw Jay Stansfield return to St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on a permanent basis.

Of course, not every transfer or managerial decision the American ownership group has made in B9 has been the right one, but Birmingham have gotten much more right than wrong in the past two years, which is a far cry from how the West Midlands outfit operated previously, with several mishaps coming to mind.

Birmingham City made £2m blunder with Kerim Frei, Besiktas deal

The 2016/17 season was one of severely mixed fortunes for Bluenoses, having started the campaign once again in the play-off hunt under Gary Rowett, before the former centre-back was controversially dismissed by Trillion Trophy Asia in December 2016 as his side were just one point outside the top-six, being swiftly replaced by Gianfranco Zola.

The Italian's start in the Second City couldn't have gotten off worse, although he was able to make changes to the squad almost immediately, recruiting four new additions in January 2017, whilst eventual cult-hero, Lukas Jutkiewicz, saw his permanent transfer made official.

Alongside the signings of Emilio Nsue, Cheik Keita and current Wrexham defender, Dan Scarr, was the high-profile move for Turkish winger, Kerim Frei, who joined from Süper Lig giants, Besiktas, for £2.25m on a three-and-a-half year contract.

The former Fulham man had netted 13 goals in 108 appearances for the Istanbul club, with five of those strikes coming across all competitions in 2015/16 as Besiktas were crowned champions. However, such form couldn't be translated upon his switch to the Championship.

Blues' plight down the table coincided with Frei's transfer, making his debut with an eight-minute substitute appearance against Blackburn Rovers, before making just 12 further appearances and just three starts overall, which didn't include the only league win of Zola's reign, as he was an unused substitute in a 1-0 success over Fulham.

Despite being an underwhelming transfer flop, the Austrian-born man did score the club's Goal of the Season with a powerful free-kick in yet another dismal result which did Zola no favours - a 1-1 draw with rock-bottom Rotherham United at the New York Stadium, with the former Watford boss dismissed less than a week later, replaced by Harry Redknapp.

The charismatic new man in charge was able to record two wins out of three when the pressure was well and truly on. However, Frei wasn't named in Redknapp's squad for his first game in charge - a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa - before being left on the bench in crucial victories over Huddersfield Town and Bristol City, with Blues finishing the season in 19th place, two points above the relegation zone.

With plenty of well-documented change occuring in the summer of 2017, in which Birmingham forked out £6m for Jota from Brentford, Frei was one of several players to depart, returning to Turkey with Istanbul Basaksehir on a four-year deal, with many supporters in B9 left extremely disappointed by his contributions when taking a hefty fee into account.

Tom Wagner will hope to avoid expensive Birmingham City mishaps as rebuild continues

In the current landscape, Blues are a different club altogether in so many ways to the one which Frei joined and swiftly departed eight years ago, with Wagner's ambitions publicised at length.

The American hasn't been afraid to splash the cash thus far as Chris Davies looks to be the man to end the club's lengthy exile from the Premier League, with the aforementioned eight-figure sum for Stansfield the standout deal thus far.

Many high-profile names have, and will continue to be linked with the club in the months and years to come, with Blues' project, undoubtedly, one of the most enticing in the EFL with a 62,000-seater stadium in the pipeline. But, new signings must be able to contribute successfuly in order for the club to achieve the end goal, or make a significant profit on the initial transfer.