Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit backs Birmingham City to re-sign £54k-a-week ace - He would "fit the bill" | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie spoke exclusively to Football League World about Birmingham City's reported interest in Che Adams

A significant summer transfer window awaits Birmingham City once again following their title-winning promotion back to the Championship at the very first attempt.

Birmingham flexed their financial muscles under Tom Wagner to great effect last summer, as expensive deals were struck for the likes of Willum Willumsson, Christoph Klarer, Tomoki Iwata and Jay Stansfield to hand Chris Davies a star-studded, record-breaking League One squad.

As it turned out, Blues ended up lifting the title in unchallenged fashion, breaking Wolverhampton Wanderers' long-standing previous record of accumulating 104 points in a single League One campaign in the process.

Now, ahead of next season, popular chairman Wagner has already declared that Blues will have the highest generated revenue of any side not in receipt of the Premier League's mandated three-year parachute payments package to sides relegated to the Championship in the division's history.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that both Birmingham and Wrexham, who also gained promotion alongside Blues, will be able to financially compete with newly-relegated, and even certain Premier League teams, for potential summer transfer targets.

Blues are already looking to complete a number of eye-catching deals, as Wagner bids to make further statements of the club's intent. As exclusively revealed by Football League World more than a week ago, Birmingham have offered a stunning weekly contract worth £30,000 to Peterborough United winger Kwame Poku, who has emerged as one of the most outstanding attackers in the EFL over the last two seasons.

And a report published earlier this week by Football Insider has freshly claimed that Birmingham are working on a "blockbuster" deal to return Che Adams to the Second City from Italian side Torino, in a move that would, once again, turn heads upon fruition.

Lee Hendrie backs Birmingham City to re-sign Che Adams this summer

The 37-cap Scottish international spent three years with Birmingham before earning a reported £15 million move to Southampton in the summer of 2019, and would go on to enjoy a successful spell on the south coast by scoring 49 goals from 191 appearances in both the Championship and the Premier League.

Adams scored 16 Championship goals just last season to help Southampton back to the Premier League, prior to leaving England for the Italian top-flight.

The striker has hit double digits for goals across all competitions in his debut season with Torino this term. With proven top-flight pedigree, there is little doubt that Adams would be a potentially outstanding acquisition at St Andrews @ Knighthead Park.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has backed Birmingham to complete the deal this summer, and he believes that Adams would represent "another really good signing" for the club.

"Birmingham City are being linked with Che Adams," Hendrie told FLW.

"Obviously he's ex-Birmingham, I think [it would be] another really good signing. They've obviously got to bring in players that are going to give them potential and have been promoted or among the play-offs.

"Adams knows the club well. Sometimes it doesn't work with players going back to a club, but he has proved that he can do it in the Championship.

"I'm sure that there are going to be lots of players that are going to be linked with a move to Birmingham and Wrexham because of their wealthy owners that can attract these big players.

"That's the key thing next season for Birmingham and Wrexham, they have to make sure they buy right and get the right personnel in the door.

"Adams knows the club so I wouldn't say he would be a bad fit. I'm sure there will be other links as well as Adams.

"I'm pretty sure he's learned a lot from going away from the club and could fit the bill for them coming back."

Che Adams' weekly Torino wage amid big Birmingham City transfer claim

Birmingham, as one would imagine, will likely need to shell out significantly in wages in order to bring Adams back to the club. According to Capology, a site which provides estimated information on player salaries, the 28-year-old is pocketing a weekly wage of €64,038 (£54,650).

Indeed, a pay rise could potentially be required to convince Adams to trade consistent top-flight football over in Italy for a return to the Championship.

However, knowing what we do about Birmingham's ability to invest heavily and attract talent to the club, that may not be too much of an obstacle.

It will be interesting to see how this potential deal plays out in the coming weeks and months, and it could be arguably the biggest signing yet of the Wagner era.