"To be brutally honest" - Ambition claim pinpointed amid Birmingham City, Joe Morrell links | OneFootball

The Portsmouth midfielder is set to leave Fratton Park at the end of the month.

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…

The 27-year-old is set to become a free agent at the end of June, after Pompey opted against extending his contract for a further year.

Morrell, a Welsh international, suffered a season-ending knee injury back in January, and is continuing his rehab at Portsmouth's training ground.

Football League World's Birmingham City fan pundit Mike Gibbs believes that Morrell is a player that Blues should be aiming higher than this summer.

"Good player, obviously done well playing for Wales. I think he plays the right type of football but, I kind of feel like we should be shooting a little bit higher than that.

"He's no spring chicken either, it's not the case of he's playing well, and he's 21/22 and doing well and got room for additional growth, he should really be at the peak of his career.

"I just question whether if we were to get promoted with him in the side, would he then still be there next year?

"I think he's different from some of the other players we've been linked with where they've had good seasons in League One, but they're young enough to kick on and go to the next level."

Morrell could be solid depth

Just because Birmingham City find themselves under new, ambitious ownership who clearly possess one of the larger budgets in League One this season, that shouldn't mean they aren't scouring every market available to them for bargains.

After all, money is only an asset if spent wisely, and therefore a club like Birmingham should be all over a player such as Morrell.

Speaking in a recent interview with The News, Portsmouth manager John Mousinho said on Morrell: "Joe is a fantastic player, I think there are some areas we have to make sure we get right with both him and Zak, we had reasons for not taking up their options. It’s just about getting that balance right.

"Obviously with Joe we have the injury to contend with as well, but he is an international player and was excellent last season for large periods.

"He captained the side in the absence of Marlon as well. I regard Joe really highly and we will get the update on how it’s going."

A current Welsh international, Morrell has spent the previous three seasons plying his trade in League One with Portsmouth, and was an important part of Pompey's title-winning squad last season.

Whilst Morrell might not be a star player at third tier level, he is extremely consistent in his performances game-to-game, and in any side with promotion aspirations, you need players who you know can be relied upon to perform.

Blues also appear likely to lose some key players from the centre of their midfield this summer too, with the highly-rated Jordan James drawing strong interest from Serie A side Atalanta, whilst Krystian Bielik is sure to draw interest from big clubs this summer.

The club have already released central midfielders Ivan Sunjic and Gary Gardner, and now appear somewhat light in the middle of the park.

So, whilst Morrell isn't the type of player to come in and contribute lots of goals from midfield, he's proven himself to be a very tidy player at League One level, and on a free transfer, should not be a move that is seen as a negative one by Birmingham fans.