Birmingham City 'danger' raised as Hull City, Wrexham eye Joe Gelhardt | OneFootball

The Leeds United man has been linked with a move to St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in recent days

Birmingham City have been told that potentially missing out on the services of Leeds United attacker, Joe Gelhardt, could contribute towards an underwhelming summer transfer window at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.

Chris Davies' side finished 10th in last season's Championship, and will be hoping to earn a shot at the play-offs this time around, with the promotion picture looking somewhat different due to the expansion of the post-season lottery.

Under Knighthead Capital Management, Blues have parted with some fairly sizeable transfer fees to wrap up eye-catching deals, although this summer, the club haven't broke the bank on any of the five incoming deals finalised so far.

The attacking department at Davies' disposal has been in an intriguing spot in the weeks leading up to the new season, with Vazquez's arrival coming after the high-profile exit of Kyogo Furuhashi, whilst Marvin Ducksch and Jay Stansfield have become the subject of exit talk amid August Priske's exciting pre-season and EFL Cup form.

Gelhardt, meanwhile, has had a frustrating pre-season back with Leeds after helping Hull City return to the Premier League in his second loan spell at the MKM Stadium last season.

Birmingham City could be set for huge Joe Gelhardt blow as Hull City, Wrexham plot transfer moves

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The 24-year-old is out-of-contract with parent club, Leeds, next summer, having not featured under Daniel Farke since October 2024, whilst scoring 20 goals in 64 appearances across 18 months in East Yorkshire.

Naturally, speculation over a permanent move to the Tigers has been rife all summer, whilst Blues were said to be plotting a move for the Liverpudlian amongst a glut of clubs late in July after Hull initially set their sights on transfer deals which were of greater importance.

At the time, though, it was claimed that the West Midlands side and Leeds were not close to agreeing any deal, and whilst Davies' men are said to be above Wrexham in the likelihood of a move as things stand, the Red Dragons are said to have eyed a £4.5m swoop of their own, whilst Gelhardt is reportedly 'desperate' to link up with Hull in the top-flight.

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Reacting to such news, Football League World's Birmingham City fan pundit, Jason Moore, said: "I would be disappointed if we don't get him. Not to say there aren't other targets that we could go and sign.

"If (Anis) Mehmeti isn't going to play at Ipswich, I'd happily take him over Gelhardt. But, we're getting close, and it might sound silly, to a dangerously poor window.

"I don't actually think we've improved the squad from where it was last season," Moore claimed.

"I'd be disappointed in the sense of 'we've missed out on a good player', but it's more the fact that this seems to be a recurring theme for Blues and we need to start pulling it out of the bag.

"They might have something lined up that fans can't see, but from what we can see, it doesn't look great. We need to get some deals over the line just to put confidence in the fans.

"If we can't get Gelhardt done, I'd be very disappointed," he added. "But, if you look at the other side, if you don't get him and the target was someone else, it's a totally different outlook.

"It depends who we end up with, but if Gelhardt was our main target and we missed out on him, I'd be very disappointed."

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Gelhardt has now played over 100 matches in the Championship, and after having the most productive season of his career with Hull last term, it is no surprise that he and Sergej Jakirovic are keen to reunite ahead of the Premier League season.

Knowing the vast majority of the squad, the attacker would need next to no time to bed in, or even relocate given the relatively short distance between Hull and Leeds, which would be totally different if a move to the West Midlands or North Wales came about.

He also stated after the Tigers' play-off final win over Middlesbrough that a permanent move was something which he would hope to see explored, and now that appears to be back on the agenda for good, which would leave Blues and their divisional counterparts feeling tinges of disappointment.