Birmingham City, Hull City and Norwich City tussling for the service of 23-year-old | OneFootball

Wide defensive cover is being targeted by the Championship trio.

Birmingham City, Hull City and Norwich City are all chasing German defender Louis Oppie this summer.

It was suggested earlier in the summer that Chris Davies' Blues would be battling with the clubs coming down from the Premier League for transfer targets this summer. According to Football Insider, they are fighting slightly more familiar opposition on this front.

Birmingham are set to engage in a standoff with Hull and Norwich to see who will sign Oppie, a 23-year-old left-back, this summer, as per the online outlet.

The six-foot defender plays for Arminia Bielefeld in the German third division and was one of the standout players in his position last season. Oppie's side won the 3. Liga, reached the final of the country's biggest domestic cup competition, and he racked up nine direct goal contributions in 36 league appearances.

His height also gave him a great advantage in aerial duels. He won two-thirds of his sky-high battles across the 2024/25 league campaign, as per Sofascore.

Birmingham, Hull and Norwich all interested in Louis Oppie

All three Championship sides want to sign Oppie in order to add depth to their left-sided defensive options, Football Insider has stated.

Birmingham are well adept at bringing in players from Germany. They have signed centre-halves Christoph Klarer and Phil Neumann in the past year.

Norwich have just been City to a central defensive target by signing free agent Harry Darling following his departure from Swansea City. Their defence was an obvious weakness for them under Johanne Hoff Thorup last term. New boss Liam Manning is looking to correct that this summer.

Full-back transfer talk has been rife this summer at the MKM Stadium. Prior to their revealed interest in the 23-year-old German, it has been reported that clubs are interested in signing Hull defenders Cody Drameh and Matty Jacob. The latter is reportedly a target for Bolton Wanderers, Reading and clubs from Switzerland, and two of the Tigers' league rivals - Derby County and Preston North End - have seen offers rejected for the former, as per Lyall Thomas.

Louis Oppie transfer comes with its risks for the interested Championship trio

Bringing Oppie over to England would require a transfer fee to be paid to Bielefeld. He is heading into the final term of his deal with the recently crowned 3. Liga winners, but the fact that there aren't multiple years left on his contract should make negotiating a price a bit nicer for the prospective buyers.

With no experience of football outside of Germany, it would be a bit of a gamble to go after the third-tier defender. Birmingham, given the presence of Alex Cochrane, would be under the least pressure to get the deal right because it would be hard for him to usurp the Scot that currently holds Davies' starting left-back role.

The options that the Tigers and the Canaries have, though, would probably suggest that Oppie would be expected to make an impact in the first-team fairly quickly - a lot of pressure to put on the 23-year-old's shoulders. That said, a move to either the MKM or Carrow Road would also present him with the opportunity to get more minutes.

All three of these sides want to take steps towards moving up the English footballing pyramid. There's no absolute guarantee that signing Oppie will help them do that, despite the potential that is there.