Emil Hansson reveals 'brutal' Birmingham City situation involving Chris Davies | OneFootball

Emil Hansson has opened up on his 'brutal' summer exit from Birmingham City to join Blackpool on a season-long loan

Birmingham City's Emil Hansson has opened up on the 'brutal' nature of his summer loan exit from St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park to League One outfit Blackpool, with the winger among a glut of Blues players cast aside by Chris Davies following the club's promotion back to the Championship.

Blues picked up Hansson in July 2024 from Eredivisie club Heracles, with his hotly-anticipated arrival in the Second City on a three-year contract setting Davies' side back a reported £1.5 million amid a significant summer spending spree after suffering relegation to League One.

The former Norway and Sweden youth international joined with a sizeable reputation by League One standards, having registered five goals and six assists from just 24 appearances during his second and final campaign with Heracles in the Dutch top-flight.

However, he would struggle to make a telling impact in B9 as Birmingham romped to the third-tier title under Davies, breaking a litany of records in the process.

Injuries derailed Hansson's debut campaign with Blues, with a muscle issue keeping the Swede sidelined for a number of months, and he finished the season with only one goal and two assists from 20 league appearances, 12 of which were starts.

Hansson then found himself omitted from Blues' pre-season preparations alongside fellow first-teamers in Alfons Sampsted, Tyler Roberts and Dion Sanderson before being loaned out to Blackpool, with the latter two also being sent away from St Andrew's on a temporary basis by joining Mansfield Town and Derby County respectively.

Emil Hansson opens up on 'brutal' Birmingham City exit under Chris Davies

Hansson, who has been in and out of the team at Blackpool amid the Tangerines' ongoing battle against relegation to League Two, has now opened up on his summer exit from Birmingham.

The 27-year-old was quickly informed that he had no future with Davies' side ahead of the 2025/26 Championship campaign, and described the situation as "sad" and "brutal".

He did, however, acknowledge the sacrifices that Birmingham are making in the club's ambitious bid to return to the Premier League with continual lavish investment into Davies' squad, which saw Blues sign the likes of Marvin Ducksch, Kyogo Furuhashi and fellow left-sided winger Gray across yet another free-spending summer window.

In an interview with Fotbollskanalen, Hansson explained of his exit: “I came back for pre-season and I had trained hard. I wanted to give it a chance.

"But very early on I got the message that I needed to move on. I wasn’t even in pre-season, I had to train alongside a few other players. It was of course tough. But that’s part of the game. They invest to get into the Premier League.

“For me it was sad, because when I left the Netherlands I wanted to go to something where I could play for a couple of years. I signed a three-year contract and that was what I assumed.

"It was sad, but that’s life as a footballer and especially abroad. It can be brutal sometimes.”

He continued: "As long as they respect my contract, I can’t say anything. Sometimes there’s a fuss with players who want to leave a club, like with Alexander Isak (who joined Liverpool from Newcastle United after forcing through a move in an explosive summer saga).

"But people don’t see when a club comes to a player and says 'you have to go'.

“There’s a lot of rubbish that happens in the world of football. I don’t know. I try to see the positive, that I learn from it. You also learn from tough times and things don’t always go as you planned.

"You have to keep fighting and just take it day by day. Things can change quickly in football. All of a sudden I get a start, score a goal and then you’re off and running. I try to have a positive mindset."

Birmingham City are sure to sanction permanent Emil Hansson transfer exit next summer

It would appear as though Hansson has no future whatsoever with Birmingham, with the winger having struggled to make any sort of impact for Blackpool so far as he continues to find himself on the periphery of Ian Evatt's side amid a relegation battle at Bloomfield Road.

Quite simply, the former Feyenoord and Hannover 96 attacker has found it difficult to adapt to English football since completing his switch from the Eredivisie, where his talents may be better suited.

There's certainly a player in there somewhere, as evidenced by his track record in the Netherlands and Blues' decision to shell out a seven-figure fee for his services, but he hasn't progressed according to plan and City can afford no passengers as Knighthead aggressively pursue promotion to the Premier League.

Next summer, he will have just one year remaining on his current deal and one can imagine that Birmingham will intend on collecting any available fee for the out-of-favour forward.