Birmingham City have hit the jackpot with signing - Blackpool may well rue decision | OneFootball

Keshi Anderson has been a good addition for Birmingham City after joining on a free transfer following his release by Blackpool.

It has been an outstanding season for Birmingham City in League One, and they are well on course to secure an immediate return to the Championship.

Birmingham were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by struggling Northampton Town at Sixfields on Saturday, meaning they have failed to win any of their last three away games, but the dropped points are highly unlikely to be costly in their pursuit of the title.

The Blues currently sit top of the League One table, 12 points clear of second-placed Wycombe Wanderers and third-placed Wrexham, and they also have a game in hand on the pair.

Birmingham's success this season is no surprise given that they spent a reported total of around £24 million in the summer, including £15 million on Fulham striker Jay Stansfield, and that is a level of investment that has never been seen before in the third tier.

However, despite the influx of high-profile additions during the course of the campaign, one of the Blues' star performers this season has been a player who joined the club on a free transfer last summer - winger Keshi Anderson.

Birmingham City struck gold with Keshi Anderson deal

Anderson spent time with the likes of Crystal Palace, Doncaster Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Northampton Town and Swindon Town in the early stages of his career before making a name for himself after his move to Blackpool in the summer of 2020.

The winger scored three goals and provided one assist in 26 appearances to help the Seasiders to promotion from League One via the play-offs in his first season at Bloomfield Road, and he fared even better in the Championship the following year, netting six goals and registering five assists in 35 games as Neil Critchley's men finished in a respectable 16th place.

Unfortunately for Anderson, he was plagued by injury in the 2022-23 campaign as Blackpool were relegated from the second tier, and after providing just two assists in nine games, he was released by the club at the end of his contract.

Despite his fitness issues, Anderson was handed a surprise Championship lifeline when he was invited for a trial at Birmingham in the summer of 2023, and after impressing manager John Eustace, he signed a one-year contract at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.

Anderson started the first eight games of last season for the Blues, but he suffered a hamstring injury in September that ruled him out for over three months, meaning that he missed almost the entirety of Wayne Rooney's ill-fated tenure.

The 29-year-old struggled for game time under Rooney's successor Tony Mowbray, but he was brought back into the fold towards the end of the season by interim manager Gary Rowett, who started him in each of the final four games of the campaign.

As Birmingham were fighting for survival, it was a big show of faith from Rowett to start Anderson, and while he could not prevent the club's relegation to League One, he did enough to earn a one-year contract extension in the summer.

Blackpool will be watching Keshi Anderson's Birmingham City exploits with envy

After Birmingham's big rebuild in the summer, supporters could have been forgiven for assuming that Anderson would be no more than a squad player in League One this season, but he has been far more important than anyone would have expected.

Anderson has made 37 appearances for the Blues in all competitions this season, with 26 of those coming from the start, and he has kept £1.5 million summer signing Emil Hansson out of the team for much of the campaign.

The winger scored his seventh goal of the season as he headed home the equaliser against Northampton on Saturday, while he has also provided seven assists, making it statistically the best year of his career so far.

Anderson has chipped in with a number of crucial goal contributions this season, but perhaps his standout moment of the campaign came back in January when he produced a stunning strike to earn his side a 1-0 win over promotion rivals Huddersfield Town.

As Anderson continues to play a key role in Birmingham's march towards the League One title, Blackpool will no doubt be feeling a strong sense of regret that they allowed him to depart after their relegation from the Championship.

Anderson has proven this season just how dangerous he can be in the third tier, and as the Seasiders languish 11th in the table, 10 points from the play-off places, they will surely be wishing that they had a winger of his quality to help provide the creative spark they have been missing.

Much of the narrative around the Blues this season has been about their spending, but despite signing for free, Anderson has been one of their standout players, and former manager Eustace deserves plenty of credit for taking a gamble on him last summer.