Opinion: Birmingham should turn to emerging Crystal Palace talent in January to replace Tahith Chong | OneFootball

After three wins on the bounce recently, Birmingham City have slipped back into a rut and are struggling with inconsistency – like most teams in the Championship right now.

There’s seemingly not a great gap in quality between a lot of the sides in the division and that one cutting edge player could make all the difference between now and the end of the season.

The Blues thought they had that enigma in Manchester United’s Dutch talent Tahith Chong, who arrived at the start of the season.

After 13 appearances though, the 22-year-old has broken down with a groin injury and has headed back to Old Trafford for his recovery.

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Whilst still technically on loan at St. Andrew’s, the deal for Chong could either be scrapped in the January transfer window or renegotiated so that Lee Bowyer’s side are paying less of his wages whilst they cannot use him.

If it’s the former that unfortunately has to be done then Birmingham must surely be in the market for a new creative attacking player and they could quite easily go down the route of a Premier League loanee once again.

The Premier League 2 – which showcases the best under-23 talents in the country that aren’t in their club’s senior squad – is normally a good breeding ground for an individual and one man at Crystal Palace is catching the eye right now in Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.

The 19-year-old, who is an England under-2o international having made his debut earlier this year, is ripping apart the PL2 competition and his current goal tally stands at 10 goals in 13 matches from out wide.

Add three assists onto that and you get the picture that the teenager is a real creative prospect – his stand-out moments have come with two goals and two assists in a 6-1 success at Leicester City and he’s netted against top academies such as Man City, Chelsea and Manchester United this season.

Patrick Vieira is clearly aware of his talents as he handed Rak-Sakyi his senior debut on the opening day of the campaign against Chelsea, but with the addition of Michael Olise and the return to fitness of Ebere Eze, the youngster’s chances this season of senior football are slim to none.

There’s the conundrum of Wilfried Zaha heading off to the African Cup of Nations in January but the Eagles should be well-stocked in that department, leaving Rak-Sakyi free to test his mettle in the Championship.

And with Chong’s injury meaning that Birmingham lack a whole lot of creativity, coupled with the fact that Riley McGree looks to be heading back to the United States, a player of Rak-Sakyi’s potential and obvious quality could be very-much needed in the Midlands from January onwards.