Exeter City could be big winners from Birmingham City transfer saga: View | OneFootball

Jay Stansfield could be on the move this summer and the big winners will be Exeter City.

When Jay Stansfield returned to Exeter City to wear his late, great, father Adam’s No.9 shirt, there was a mixture of excitement, pride, and raw emotion in Devon's capital.

The forward was bought by Fulham in August 2019 as a 16-year-old after coming through the Grecians’ youth academy.

At the time, there was sadness that supporters never got to see him play for City’s first team and many hoped he’d be the first to wear his dad's old No.9 shirt which was retired for nine years following his passing from colorectal cancer in 2010.

In the end, academy product Ben Seymour was the next to wear it after 'Stanno Snr' from 2020 to 2022.

It looked like the dream of seeing 'Stansfield 9' on a City team sheet again had come and gone, but his sensational homecoming on loan for the 2022/23 season was the stuff of fairy tales.

The transfer had everything, it went beyond the deadline and was announced the day after, and he was paraded with that No.9 shirt in front of the stand with his father’s name on it.

When the excitement died down, the loan was a little hit-and-miss, as was expected from a then 19-year-old player making his first strides in regular first-team football.

He scored nine goals that season, which came in six separate games, and he picked up a handy eight assists in that electric frontline, which included Sam Nombe and Jevani Brown. He actually picked up more yellow cards (11) than goals, but that was all part of the charm.

You could see his dad in the hustle and bustle, but he had more of an ego with an edge to him than his old man did, with quicker feet to boot.

Jay Stansfield transfer latest

It wasn’t much of a surprise when he went on loan, a league above to Birmingham City the following season and even less of one when Blues fell in love with the Devon-born hitman.

He couldn’t keep them up but scored 13 goals in 47 games and cleaned up at their awards night, winning all the gongs on offer to their men’s team.

Now, Birmingham boss Chris Davies has backed up reports saying they want to bring him back to St Andrew's on a permanent basis as they splash the cash in a bid to get straight back into the second tier.

Regarding their pursuit of Stansfield, Davies said, via Birmingham World: "There’s always a chance.

"He’s a player that won all the awards last year and when I analysed the team before I came in he was the stand-out player.

"He’s gone back to a really good Premier League club that obviously value him highly and they have their own plans and their own ambitions.

"If he became available and we could do it, it would be something that would be really exciting for everyone. But everyone knows it will be a challenge to do that."

A move worth a reported £6m is in the offing and while that looks like a great deal for the Blues, it’s also a good one for Exeter City with yet another sell-on clause potentially paying big.

A League One move might be a backwards step for the England Under-21 international, but there’s plenty of interest from Championship clubs as well, with Hull City, Sunderland, and Cardiff City all said to be sniffing around.

Exeter have Jay Stansfield sell on clause

While Birmingham fans will be desperate to get the deal over the line as painlessly and quickly as possible, those in the corridors of power at St James Park will quietly be hoping for a public bidding war that sees the price go up and up with a potential seven-figure sell-on clause heading their way once again.

If Stansfield is sold this summer, Exeter can expect to receive anything from £600,000 to £1.2m in sell-ons if the clause is within the 10-20% range of the quoted price, though it will be slightly less if it's a sell-on percentage of Fulham's profit rather than a cut of the overall fee.

Jay already has a Premier League goal to his name and at the end of last season Marco Silva said he wanted the forward in his squad for the 2024/25 campaign, but if the price is right it seems a deal could be done.

If Stansfield does leave Craven Cottage this summer, Exeter will pocket a pretty penny, but if he stays at Fulham his stock could grow even higher and that sell on fee could prove more lucrative.

Good things come to those who wait, but it might not be long before Stanno's future is decided either way.