"Torn on this" - Krystian Bielik verdict given amid uncertain Birmingham City 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…

Following Birmingham City's relegation from the Championship, there will likely be a number of players who depart St Andrew's this summer.

Relegation to the third tier gives Birmingham the perfect chance to overhaul their squad, and bring in some young, hungry players who can be regulars in the starting XI for years to come.

However, they'll still want to keep some experience and quality around, and one of these players is Krystian Bielik.

The Polish international joined the club in the summer of 2022 following Derby County's relegation, and he's contracted to the club until 2026, meaning Birmingham would want a decent fee if he was to leave this summer.

Being a Polish international, and having moved from a relegated club previously, Bielik will presumably want to play at a higher level of football than League One, and it remains to be seen if he'll stay at St Andrew's this summer.

"He can absolutely play at a higher level" - Verdict on Krystian Bielik's Birmingham City future

With Krystian Bielik's Birmingham City career up in the air after relegation, our Birmingham City fan pundit, Mike, believes it could go either way, but that the player is certainly good enough to be playing at a higher standard.

He said: “I think the Bielik one is a bit of an interesting one. He left Derby to play for a Championship club, initially to get into Poland’s World Cup squad, which he did.

“But he’s dropped out of that squad whilst we’ve been playing Championship football, so there’s no guarantee that playing Championship football gets him into the Poland squad.

“I’m a little bit torn on this, and I think he will want to play at a higher level because he’s capable of doing so, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go, but at the same time, it’s not going to guarantee him a place in Poland’s squad. “There may be an angle which says he may as well continue playing where he’s comfortable and hopefully get us back into the Championship, but I can see it going either way.

"Maybe I’m being rose-tinted glass and hoping he stays, but if I put myself in his shoes you’d want to play at the highest level and that’s not League One.

"He can absolutely play at a higher level, but I guess it comes down to whether he’ll be pushing for a move or not, and how open he would be to that."

Birmingham City will do well to keep hold of Krystian Bielik

Given that Krystian Bielik is an experienced Championship player with experience on the international stage, Birmingham City won't be short of suitors this summer from the Championship and abroad.

The ex-Arsenal youngster has 11 caps for his country to his name, and given that Poland are a competitive international side that qualify for major tournaments, you'd have thought that playing in League One would do his international ambitions some harm.

However, as noted by our Birmingham City fan pundit, he's not been selected by Poland recently anyway, but surely a move away from St Andrew's would benefit his international ambitions.

Given the fact he has two years left on his deal with Birmingham, they won't be willing to offload him for cheap, and any club would have to pay a substantial transfer fee.

This could be a good move for all parties, as that money could be reinvested into Birmingham's squad ahead of League One, and it would allow Bielik a fresh start next season elsewhere.