Birmingham City urged to take double January 2026 action - Lyndon Dykes is involved | OneFootball

Birmingham City have some deadwood to discard in a few months time when the transfer window re-opens

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Birmingham City enjoyed a phenomenal summer transfer window following their promotion back to the Championship, which perfectly highlighted their ambition as a club.

Coming off the back of a record-breaking League One title-winning campaign, Blues approached the summer in a determined manner and left a statement of intent with signings such as Kyogo Furuhashi, Demarai Gray and Tommy Doyle.

The Steel City side aren’t just making exciting moves on the pitch though.

It was announced earlier this year that the Second City side are planning to build a new 62,000-seater stadium to replace St. Andrew’s as part of owner Tom Wagner’s Sports Quarter plan for Birmingham, which consists of new training ground and academy facilities, plus entertainment, office, and retail spaces alongside the new stadium.

However, some aspects of Birmingham City’s transfer window weren’t perfect.

Due to the sheer volume of players they have recruited, Blues have a number of operators who have found their playing time at St. Andrew’s reduced to the point where they no longer have a role in the team.

Some, such as Krystian Bielik and Taylor Gardner-Hickman, pursued moves away during the summer window, but that wasn’t the case for everyone.

St. Andrew’s exits predicted for Birmingham City duo in January 2026

With a number of players running on borrowed time within Chris Davies’ ranks, Football League World’s Birmingham City fan pundit, Jason Moore, has highlighted a couple of individuals who he believes will depart before much longer.

“There are a few players who could leave,” Jason told FLW. “I think there are a couple who know, for the good of their career, they need to go and play football.

“One is going to be Alfons Sampsted. He's definitely not going to play for Blues again, especially after his performance against Port Vale. He's been a weak spot in the back four when he has played.

“The other has got to be Lyndon Dykes. He can't be a bit-part player anymore. He's just not good enough and he doesn't offer us anything.

“I've tried to defend him, but I think he definitely needs to get a move away in January and I think they'll have someone lined up to replace him.”

Birmingham City’s project has seemingly surpassed Lyndon Dykes and Alfons Sampsted

As often with teams who rapidly progress up the English footballing ladder, players become increasingly expendable and may only fit the requirements of the project for a short amount of time.

Operators who excelled in League One may not be up to scratch in the Championship and that is the case for Dykes and Sampsted.

Dykes joined Birmingham City last summer and was a useful option for them throughout their title-winning campaign, deployed mostly as a squad player who could affect proceedings in unique fashion.

However, he only managed one league goal all season, which is a worrying return for a striker who had dropped down a level to try and make more of an impact - he nearly joined Hibernian on deadline day this summer, but a deal broke down, meaning he's going to be likely sitting on the sidelines or bench for most of the next few months.

Sampsted meanwhile joined Blues on a season-long loan in thesummer of 2024 and had an option to make the move permanent included in that deal.

The right-back showed promise at times throughout his maiden campaign at St. Andrew’s, which was enough to convince Davies and co to bring him to the club on a full-time basis.

As mentioned by Jason, the 27-year-old was particularly poor in Blues’ EFL Cup exit against Port Vale. Following the arrivals of Ethan Laird and Bright Osayi-Samuel, there doesn’t seem to be any room for the Icelandic defender within Birmingham’s right-back department.