Birmingham City: Wayne Rooney predicted to let go of Hogan, Roberts and Gardner by fan pundit | OneFootball

Highlights

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…

Wayne Rooney has been appointed as the latest Birmingham City manager.

The 37-year-old has replaced John Eustace after the new owners at St. Andrew’s opted for a change in direction.

The former Blues boss departed the Championship side with the team sixth in the table, inside the play-off places, meaning his exit has come as a surprise to many.

Who could Wayne Rooney look to sell at Birmingham City in January?

FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit Mike Gibbs has listed a number of possible player departures that Rooney could make in January, as he looks to build the squad to his liking.

However, he believes that it could take up to six weeks to get a better picture of who will be left on the fringes of the first team squad following the new manager’s arrival.

“He’s obviously going to spend the next week-and-a-half looking at what he’s already got and he’ll get some good time on the training ground with them,” Gibbs told Football League World.

“I think he’ll be more focusing on who he can bring in and what are the gaps than who’s he going to look to move out.

“I think there’s a few players that are maybe on the periphery of the first team still on some big contracts that he might want to get rid of.

“I think he’ll take a good look at them and each manager has their own preferences in terms of players.

“It could be a player that’s not played a single minute all year and a new manager comes in, and you’re in a regular starter role, we’ve seen that lots.

“I think, for me, I said it before but I could see Hogan moving.

“Gary Gardner is coming back to fitness, but I can imagine he’s still on a decent contract and he’s 31 now.

“I could potentially see him moving out.

“Marc Roberts was rumoured right at the end of the window to be going as well.

“You’d argue that we’ve probably got a little bit of cover there now.

“I feel like I could see someone like Marc Roberts going.

“But it’ll be interesting to see his first team selection really because he’ll start to get a feel, having trained with them for a week-and-a-half who he likes and who he doesn’t like.

“So it’ll be an interesting question to answer in about six weeks’ time as well.”

Where are Birmingham City in the Championship table?

Rooney’s first game in charge will come on 21 October away to 16th place Middlesbrough.

Will Birmingham City have a busy January transfer window?

Birmingham have already been linked with making a move to sign a Derby County quartet that Rooney worked with during his time at Pride Park.

The new owners have shown a lot of ambition already, so it could be a busy January window for the Championship club.

Rooney will want a couple of signings that will fit his style of play, and to make his mark on the squad.