“To be brutally honest” - Birmingham City fan pundit makes admission on Jay Stansfield future | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Birmingham City look set for a busy summer, but will be focused on ensuring Championship safety after an underwhelming season in the second tier.

Blues earned a first victory in eight in their latest league encounter over Preston North End, with the player who has been the shining light in B9 this season finding himself on the scoresheet once again.

Jay Stansfield's Birmingham City statistics

Since arriving on-loan from Fulham, Jay Stansfield has endeared himself to the Blues hopeful, completely disregarding the saying of 'never fall in love with a loan player'.

In a season that has experienced many lows, the 21-year-old's performances have shone during his time at St. Andrew's, in what is only his second loan spell in professional football.

His latest strike against Ryan Lowe's side took his league tally to double figures for the season, showing great composure before finishing low into the corner, and that goal could prove vital between now and the end of the season, should interim boss Gary Rowett manage to steer the ship in Tony Mowbray's absence.

Birmingham City chance of re-signing Jay Stansfield said to be "slim to none"

But with that good form, has come interest. Despite Stansfield's loan being until the end of the season, that didn't stop sides higher up in the division trying to secure a deal with him until the end of the season.

It was reported in January that Ipswich Town were attempting to agree a deal to help aid the Tractor Boys' automatic promotion push, but the Fulham striker chose to stay in the West Midlands.

But with his loan spell with Blues coming to an end, many are thinking about what is next for Stansfield. At his parent club, Rodrigo Muniz and Raul Jiminez have been in fine goal-scoring form, and you would expect them to bolster their attacking options once more in the summer, having endured a below-par campaign under Marco Silva - leaving Stansfield in limbo.

A potential loan move away from Craven Cottage could follow next term, and according to Football League World's Birmingham fan pundit, Mike Gibbs, the chances of seeing him return to St. Andrew's is pretty much non-existent.

"I think the chances are slim to none, to be brutally honest," Gibbs started.

"For a few reasons really, one is given his age now. I think if I was the Fulham manager I would want to see whether he can cut it at the club. If I don't think he can, I would probably be looking at cashing in and making a significant profit on him.

"The other angle, as well, is there would be lots of clubs interested, and he would have his pick of any team in the Championship. Whether he would come back to Birmingham as one of the options, I don't know.

"The other thing is, and this might sound strange, but would the club want him? I think they would, I think the fans would, but there have been ups and downs this year.

"If we can find a permanent striker, because I don't think we would be able to afford him permanently, we might have that department sorted.

"There has also been a little bit of back and forth recently with the fans that have come out on social media and said it does personally affect him. I know you are going to get that anywhere, but would he want to come back is the other side of it."