Birmingham City transfer deadline set as Chris Davies outlines masterplan

Birmingham City head coach Chris Davies will give his players two weeks to prove themselves to him.

Blues players are due back for pre-season on Monday, July 1. They will spend the first week of training in the Midlands, before jetting out to Austria for additional training and a match.

Birmingham will be out in Austria from Monday, July 8 to Sunday, July 14 and will play a match against SC Paderborn. 

Paderborn finished seventh in the second tier of German football last season and that will act as the first match of the Davies era. The game is scheduled to take place at the Pendlingstadion in Thiersee. 

The newly appointed coach will use that match and the days of training to assess the squad he currently has at his disposal. Players under contract could still be moved on and it will also be an opportunity to see what positions need to be addressed. 

“I think for me it won’t take long,” responded Davies to BBC Radio West Midlands Sport when asked how long it will take to assess the current squad. 

“In terms of that first week of the training ground and then we’re going to Austria for a week, by the end of the trip to Austria, I’ll have a really good handle on the level of players I am working with. 

“The training sessions will all be designed to really see out how they cope and get to know them personally as well. 

“I’ll have a real clear idea of what we have in the building after Austria and that will give me more clarity on what we need to bring in to add to that to make sure we’ve got a really robust squad moving forward.”

Birmingham are still awaiting the decisions of Lukas Jutkiewicz and John Ruddy who have been offered new contracts. Blues are confident of Jutkiewicz remaining but earlier this week it was reported that Charlton Athletic were planning to speak to Ruddy.

In their retained list published in May, Birmingham have 28 players on their books for next season. Goalkeeper Brad Mayo recently signed a new two-year deal which will come in effect at the end of the month.