Creative starlet and 26-goal man could save Birmingham City millions in transfer fees | OneFootball

Birmingham City have a strong name for developing young talent — they may be set to add to that reputation with these two talents

Birmingham City have gained a name in recent times as a club not shy when it comes to spending money.

They forked out as much as £15million for forward Jay Stansfield in the summer, and he wasn’t their only headline signing.

But the Blues also have a strong reputation for producing young players, most notably Jude and Jobe Bellingham in recent years.

Have they got any other such stars rising through the ranks? Here, Football League World looks at two young prospects who could save Birmingham millions in future transfer windows…

Cody Pennington

Birmingham confirmed the signing of youth prospect Cody Pennington in the summer, with the player having spent much of his youth career with Liverpool.

Currently listed as a midfielder, he turned out 12 times last season for the Merseysiders’ Under-18s in the U18 Premier League, scoring three goals and providing two assists in that time.

Goalscoring, creative midfielders are relatively rare and, therefore, are expensive to buy in the transfer market.

Only Willum Thor Willumsson and Tomoki Iwata have managed to chip in with significant goals this season — an injury or move away for either man would leave a lot of goals to replace in the squad, away from the frontline.

Pennington has only been included in one senior matchday squad so far this season, but any absence from Willumsson or Iwata would likely see more opportunities open up — if Pennington can transfer his creative knack to senior football, it would save the Blues a significant sum trying to plug such a gap in the transfer market.

Tobey Ugorji

Football, in its simplest form, is about scoring goals, so strikers, employed chiefly to get the ball in the back of the net, will always be among the most expensive players on the pitch.

Therefore, developing strikers in your own academy is where clubs can make the biggest savings, and young prospect Tobey Ugorji could be the next in line for Birmingham.

The youngster was still only in Under-16s football when he first hit headlines last year, having notched 26 goals and 15 assists in his first 28 games in the 2023/24 season.

So exciting is Ugorji as a prospect that he already had Premier League and Ligue 1 clubs vying to get him into their setups last year, as per a report from Football Insider.

That suggests, if he continues on the same trajectory and the Blues manage to keep hold of him, that he is going to have some value once he reaches senior football and, if they can convince to stay at that point, he will save Birmingham a considerable sum as they wouldn’t need to go out to buy a striker.

The teenager has been in the Birmingham academy for some time, having joined in August 2016.

Not only would him rising through the youth ranks be incredible to watch for Birmingham fans — something that always increases the good feeling around a club — but he would also save, or potentially make, the club a lot of money, should he have a similar impact in the senior game as he’s managed so far in youth football.