One thing should concern Birmingham City fans if they sign Brighton and Hove Albion star | OneFootball

Birmingham City are reportedly set to complete the loan signing of Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper James Beadle for next season

Birmingham City are reportedly set to complete the loan signing of Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper James Beadle for the 2025/2026 Championship season.

The 20-year-old has spent the last 18 months at Sheffield Wednesday - where he established himself as a key player for the Owls, playing 57 times in his two spells - prior to Pierce Charles taking his place towards the end of the past season.

However, despite any excitement surrounding the capture of a highly-rated talent, there is one stat that should give Blues supporters pause for thought regarding Beadle's potential impact between the sticks.

Statistical concern over Beadle's shot-stopping ability

While Beadle's reputation as a promising young goalkeeper has been improved by his performances at Hillsbrough, there is one glaring stat that could concern those at his potential new club - Birmingham City.

According to FotMob data, Beadle recorded -3.9 goals prevented during his 38 Championship appearances this past season - placing him as the third-worst-performing goalkeeper in the division for this metric.

While some of these stats can be attributed to the quality of the defence in front of him, the goals prevented metric specifically isolates goalkeeper performance.

Essentially, the goals prevented stat measures how many goals a goalkeeper prevents compared to the expected goals they face - which indicates whether they are performing above or below the expected level based on the quality of chances they face.

As the figure is negative, this suggests Beadle conceded more goals than would be typically expected from the shots he faced - which shows potential issues with his shot-stopping ability or decision-making in key moments.

Any concern raised by this stat becomes somewhat more pronounced when considering Beadle is likely to be Birmingham's first-choice goalkeeper next season.

The England U-21 international conceded 59 goals in the league for Wednesday - managing only nine clean sheets.

Blues' pursuit of Beadle comes after their record-breaking League One title win, even after current number one Ryan Allsop won the League One Golden Glove award with 21 clean sheets.

Beadle's potential signing also reflects poorly on Bailey Peacock-Farrell - who began last season as first-choice until a series of errors saw him quickly demoted - Beadle does have these errors in him. Obviously, as the reported deal is a loan - it does provide Birmingham with a low-risk opportunity to assess whether Beadle is capable of being their new number one.

Manager Chris Davies will be hoping that the combination of a more stable defensive unit can help Beadle fulfill his potential and address the shot-stopping concerns that emerged from his time in South Yorkshire.