‘Sooner rather than later’ – Troy Deeney’s first team involvement at Birmingham City: The verdict | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict’ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Troy Deeney’s move from Watford to Birmingham City is a move that brings great expectation at St Andrew’s, the 33-year-old is a boyhood Blues fan and will be desperate to continue the excellent start Lee Bowyer’s men have made to the 2021/22 season.

The Blues host Wayne Rooney’s Derby County on Friday evening, and a large amount of Blues fans will be eager to see whether or not Deeney will make his debut.

Lukas Jutkiewicz and Scott Hogan have been a consistent striking duo in Bowyer’s time at the club but they do not boast the pedigree at the level that the 33-year-old does.

Here, we get the thoughts of a selection of FLW writers on whether they expect Troy Deeney to be a consistent first team regular at Birmingham City this season…

George Dagless

I think it’ll be sooner rather than later that he is involved.

Birmingham have started well and Lee Bowyer won’t want to upset things too much in terms of his starting line-up with that in mind but it is clear that the manager has brought in Deeney for one reason, and that’s to fire them up towards the right end of the league.

Deeney will be motivated playing for his hometown club and I think there’s a considerable chance that once he does get up to speed with how the Blues work that we won’t see him coming out of the team too often at all.

Bowyer has some good attacking options he can now rotate through, and Deeney has the quality to play a key part in proceedings this season.

Toby Wilding

It would feel like something of a surprise if Deeney is not a regular presence in the Birmingham side this season.

Even though his game time was limited last season for one reason or another, the striker was still able to produce a fairly decent scoring record for Watford, helping them to win promotion to the Premier League in the process.

As a result, with Birmingham seemingly keen to add a goalscoring outlet to their side as they aim to climb the Championship table this season, it would seem to make sense for Lee Bowyer to give Deeney plenty of chances to make an impact for the Blues.

20 quiz questions about Birmingham City’s 2021/22 season so far – Can you score full marks?

1 of 20

What was the score on the opening day of the season?

0-1

0-2

1-1

2-1

Indeed, given the excitement with which this deal was greeted, you imagine there will be a desire from the St Andrew’s crowd to see Deeney in action on a regular basis.

That being said, Deeney’s recent fitness record, and the fact that at 33-years-old he is arguably approaching the latter stages of his career, mean that his workload may need to be managed at times, so while he ought to feature consistently, it may not always be for the full 90 minutes of games.

Sam Rourke

100% – He’s too good at this level not to be utilised consistently.

Hogan and Jutkiewicz have enjoyed a fruitful partnership in the early advances of this campaign, so I’d perhaps be surprised to see Deeney thrusted straight into the XI for Friday night’s fixture.

I can see Bowyer gradually embedding Deeney into the starting XI in due course, and I can see him partnering either Hogan of Jutkiewicz to great effect.

It’s not just Deeney’s qualities that he exhibits on the pitch, it’s his leadership and experience off the pitch that will enhance the Blues team, not to mention is undeniable passion and love for Birmingham City.

It is worth mentioning that Deeney isn’t getting any younger so his game-time will need to be managed wisely by Bowyer, but the Blues now have three more than proficient strikers at their disposal.