Fresh claim made on Phil Neumann situation at Birmingham City - 'It's a massive boost' | OneFootball

Blues were able to retain the services of Phil Neumann despite transfer interest

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 have been praised for retaining the services of German centre-back Phil Neumann despite interest in the summer addition from sides in Italy and Germany throughout the now-closed winter transfer window.

Blues were able to reshape their squad in a window which is notoriously very hard for any side to do business in, with there a clear argument that what Chris Davies has at his disposal is now way stronger than when the window opened on New Year's Day.

The ambitious club have had their sights set on a play-off bid for the entire season, despite some outsiders believing they could go all the way and achieve back-to-back promotions before the Championship campaign got underway.

It had been a largely inconsistent return to the second tier for Birmingham, who still had the makings of an extremely competent side for the level.

However, it has been well-documented that they and Wrexham, who both achieved automatic promotion from League One last term, are in no mood to settle for immediate consolidation, with Blues' majority owner, Tom Wagner, reiterating his desire to see Premier League football return to this part of the Second City as soon as possible.

Davies has overseen a recent upsurge in performances and results compliment the major squad reshuffle which saw over 10 departures sanctioned - mainly for players on the fringes of the starting lineup at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park - as well as six additions in the form of Kai Wagner, Jhon Solis, Ibrahim Osman, August Priske, Carlos Vicente and Jonathan Panzo.

The latter of those deals was also completed on Deadline Day, with the Blues boss making it clear that he hoped to add further depth to his centre-back department following the early termination of Eiran Cashin's loan agreement with Brighton and Hove Albion.

However, whilst Panzo offers Davies a fourth senior option when all of he, Neumann, Christoph Klarer and Jack Robinson are all match fit and injury-free, it was just as important that the club held on to the services of the German centre-back, according to Football League World's Birmingham City fan pundit, Jason Moore.

Birmingham City given 'massive boost' as Phil Neumann stays at St. Andrew's amid transfer talk

Neumann was previously wanted by Blues for quite some time, having been heavily linked with a switch to the West Midlands in both transfer windows of the 2024/25 season in League One, before they finally reached a pre-contract agreement with the 28-year-old's former employers, Hannover 96.

The centre-back's spell with the club then became official from July 1st, and he slotted straight into Davies' pre-season plans before starting the season alongside Klarer as first-choice centre-backs against Ipswich Town on August 8th.

Yet, a month into his stint with Birmingham, Neumann was dropped for just over a month's worth of action in place of Robinson and Cashin, before marking his eventual return with his first goal in English football against Preston North End on October 21st.

The free transfer has since scored a second for the club against Southampton on December 29th, and has made 26 appearances in all competitions thus far.

However, it was reported that the towering figure had attracted interest from Sassuolo in the first two weeks of the window, before such interest was later backed up and added to with links to Hellas Verona and VfL Wolfsburg.

Despite such speculation, Moore is pleased that Birmingham were able to keep Neumann for the short-term, at least.

"It's a massive boost," he told FLW.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's been fantastic all season. But, he's come to a brand new league and had to adjust.

"I think, at times, he's been wrongly judged to have performed poorly when the whole squad's been poor," Moore claimed.

"He's been a bit of a 'scapegoat'. But, another good decision by the club. Why you'd sell him and leave yourself short when he's been a 6.5/7 rating in most games?

"Correct decision. If they want to move him on in the summer, feel free, but I personally wouldn't.

"Very, very much the correct decision, because we'd leave ourselves way short if he went."

Birmingham City have made the correct call by retaining Phil Neumann

As Moore alluded to, Birmingham would have left themselves alarmingly short if an exit for Neumann was sanctioned in the final days of the window, and they would have had to have sourced a second incoming centre-back with very little time to do so.

Neumann has been solid, if not spectacular thus far, and there is still a chance that Blues could make a profit on his services further down the line.