‘He could have been good’, ‘Give the guy credit’ – Many Birmingham fans react as senior player departs | OneFootball

After less than a year at St Andrew’s, Mikel San Jose has left Birmingham City by mutual consent.

San Jose, who spent three years of his career as a youngster at Liverpool, was seen as a bit of a coup for the Blues, having played regularly in La Liga for Athletic Bilbao between 2009 and 2019.

The 31-year-old was part of the Bilbao side in 2012 that were runners-up to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League and at his peak, San Jose was capped seven times for Spain between 2014 and 2016.

Having spent much of the 2019/20 campaign either injured or on the bench at Bilbao, San Jose departed after 11 years and ended up with fellow Spaniard Aitor Karanka at Birmingham, but it’s been a bit of a mixed campaign for him.

San Jose made 28 appearances in all competitions and was pretty much a regular under Karanka at both centre-back and in midfield, however poor performances and mistakes started to creep in towards the end of his reign and he was eventually dropped to the bench.

What club do these 21 former Birmingham City players ply their trade at now?

Lee Bowyer only used him three times when he took charge – all appearances off the bench – and with San Jose stating a desire to depart the club his wish has been granted.

Birmingham fans have been reacting to San Jose leaving and there’s actually a lot of disappointment that he has decided he wants to move on.