2 players who could follow Alfons Sampsted out of Birmingham City in 2025 | OneFootball

While Birmingham City romp to the League One title, FLW takes a look at three players who likely won't be joining the side next season.

Icelandic right-back Alfons Sampsted will almost certainly not be a Birmingham CIty player this time next year, and he may not be the only player looking at the St. Andrew's exit door.

On loan from FC Twente with an option to buy, 26-year-old Sampsted is yet to start in the league for Chris Davies' side this season, having played as many for his country as he has in League One since the August move.

Having not featured in any capacity since the start of November, Birmingham Mail report that Sampsted's loan could be terminated as soon as this month, providing his parent club will take him back or can line up another loan elsewhere.

While the Icelandic defender's fate looks sealed, let's discuss two other players who look likely to leave the League One leaders at some point in the calendar year.

2 Lukas Jutkiewicz

Lukas Jutkiewicz may as well be part of the furniture at Birmingham, with almost 350 appearances for the West Midlands side.

However, struggling to break into the team, and with a contract expiring in the summer, the 35-year-old's ninth season at St. Andrew's may well be his last.

Since winning the club's Player of the Year award in 2019-20, Southampton-born Jutkiewicz has scored just 21 times in 170 appearances for the club, an inexcusibly meagre return for a striker.

With Birmingham presumably returning to Championship come May, if the veteran striker can't secure a starting spot at this stage, competition is only going to get worse down the line, predict him either to move to another League One or Two club or retire completely come May.

1 Ayumu Yokoyama

While Paik Seung-ho and Tomoki Iwata have both been revelations at St. Andrew's, it is the third member of the Blues' East-Asian contingent that has not quite worked out as planned.

Despite impressing in the EFL Trophy, Japanese wide-forward Ayumu Yokoyama as been entrusted with just 134 minutes in England's third-tier among a highly competitive front-line.

Yokoyama arrived from Japanese side Sagan Tosu, where he excelled in the first half of a J1 League season that started in February 2024. The 21-year-old collected five goals and three assists, despite the team finishing bottom of the league.

Such is the wealth of riches at Chris Davies' disposal, the winger regularly fails to make even the match-day squad.

This ostracization was most evident on December 29, when during a home tie with Blackpool, Emil Hansson was forced off the pitch with injury.

Yokoyama, the most natural fit positionally to replace the injured Swede, remained on the bench for the rest of the match, with 19-year-old attacking midfielder Luke Harris coming on instead.

When asked of this apparent oversight, Davies told Birmingham Mail “With that one, I think Luke has been close to the team on a few occasions and hasn’t quite made it and I’ve got to make a decision there - Luke has played a bit more football than Ayumu so, as an early sub, has he got the physical capacity to go the rest of that game? That played into my thinking as well."

Seemingly irreparably far down the pecking order in a Blues side destined for Championship football next season, Yokoyama is at risk of wasting important years of development stuck in the St. Andrew's dugout.

Perhaps it may be wise for both parties to admit defeat and part ways in 2025, although a loan deal first could be a better fit for all parties.