Birmingham City star needs breakthrough season to rekindle Leeds United, Liverpool interest: View | OneFootball

Rewind 12 months and Birmingham City youngster George Hall was being linked to the likes of Liverpool and Leeds United off the back of some impressive performances.

However, at the present time, the midfielder still plies his trade at Birmingham and has had a hellish campaign, plagued by injuries.

Therefore, if he is to reignite interest from clubs higher up, he is going to need yet another breakthrough season in his still extremely young career.

George Hall's first breakthrough season

In 2022, Hall had just come off the back of a great couple of years in Birmingham's under-23 side, attracting reported interest from Premier League academies. He made his first team bow in a match against Queens Park Rangers in January of 2021/22, but would not make his full breakthrough until the beginning of 2022/23.

He scored his debut goal in August of that season, and despite a few minor injury problems, he would make 30 Championship appearances, score once more and also lay on an assist for a teammate.

Thanks to this impressive contribution to the team's efforts that season, he won Birmingham's young player of the season award.

Upon winning the accolade, speaking to the club's media team, he outlined his hopes to continue his progression

He said: "Winning this award is crazy to me, even playing my first game was.

"I feel extremely privileged, Championship football is different to academy football and hopefully I can go on to do better next season."

Hall's stunted progression this term

It wasn't to be and injuries have meant that Hall has not been able to progress as much as he would have liked this season.

Early indicators suggested that he would be given more first team minutes as he was a substitute for the Blues' opening day win over Plymouth Argyle. He then followed that up with a start in the Carabao Cup against Cardiff.

However, he was whisked off at halftime in that game due to a hamstring injury, and would then not feature in any first team matchday squad until the start of March.

This absence from the first team was because of multiple injury setbacks across the winter months. Hall had already been struggling with injury troubles across pre-season, suffering up to four separate issues with his hamstring as reported by the Birmingham Mail, but while Wayne Rooney was in the dugout, Hall suffered yet more injury heartbreak – this time an issue with his other hamstring.

Since returning in March, Hall has only featured from the bench under interim boss Gary Rowett but he will hope that next season can be different for him.

George Hall needs a second breakthrough season to get reignite interest

Hall is going to require a second breakthrough season if he has any hopes of reinvigorating his career and interest from the levels above.

Despite beating Norwich on the final day of the season, Birmingham suffered relegation to the third tier thanks to teams around them picking up the points that they needed.

Even though this is a big disappointment to Blues fans, dropping down to League One may be bittersweet for Hall – offering him a regular place in the side and the chance to really stamp his quality as he looks to help his side win promotion back to the Championship. The return of Tony Mowbray, well respected for his work with young players, to the dugout should also help him get back to his best.

After such a frustrating season, the midfielder will be hungrier than ever to make his mark in 2024/25 and if the 19-year-old can showcase more of the bright talent that caught the attention of the likes of Liverpool and Leeds in the past, then it would be no surprise to see fresh Premier League interest.

Birmingham's asset is well protected for now, on a contract that runs until the summer of 2026, but if he can dazzle again next term then they may well have a big decision to make concerning his future.