Birmingham City face Coventry City transfer battle for £40k-a-week Brentford ace | OneFootball

Frank Onyeka has become a target for the West Midlands rivals

Birmingham City are reportedly facing a transfer battle from West Midlands rivals and Championship leaders, Coventry City, for Brentford midfielder, Frank Onyeka.

That is according to the Daily Mail, which surfaced just hours after the powerful Bees midfielder was part of the Nigeria squad which suffered heartbreak at the hands of African Cup of Nations hosts, Morocco, through a penalty-shootout exit on Wednesday night.

Onyeka shared his international experience with the likes of Birmingham's summer signing, Bright Osayi-Samuel, who will be returning to action at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park after their upcoming third and fourth-place play-off clash against fellow semi-final losers, Egypt, on Saturday afternoon.

It has been widely reported that Chris Davies is looking to somewhat reshape his squad ahead of Blues' final 20 league matches of the season, as they are currently in the thick of a congested and competitive fight to reach the play-offs come the end of the campaign after an inconsistent opening period following their record-breaking season in League One.

One of the areas which has been targeted for change is Davies' midfield department, which currently boasts the likes of Paik Seung-ho, Tomoki Iwata - albeit he has featured heavily at right-back - Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee, Tommy Doyle and Marc Leonard.

However, whilst the latter continues to be the subject of exit talk in this part of the Second City, it was claimed last month that Birmingham were in the market for a 'powerful' midfielder to become part of their 25-man squad.

Reports earlier in the week suggested that Davies had found that man, in the form of Girona FC's 21-year-old Colombian midfielder, Jhon Solis, with Blues believed to have fended off competition from Liga MX side, Tigres UANL by securing an initial loan deal which could be turned permanent on an optional or mandatory basis for approximately £6.9m.

However, whilst a deal for Solis is yet to be confirmed, it has now emerged that they face a fight from Frank Lampard's Sky Blues to secure Onyeka's signature, almost five years after he moved to the then-newly-promoted Brentford from Danish Superliga side, FC Midtjylland.

Birmingham City face Coventry City transfer battle for Brentford's Frank Onyeka

As previously mentioned, Onyeka was one of the West London club's first signings after they secured a first promotion to the Premier League from the Championship under Thomas Frank.

The midfielder has also been capped 41 times by the Super Eagles, with the vast majority of those appearances coming throughout his spell at the Gtech Community Stadium since making his international debut in October 2020.

Onyeka was initially a lynchpin in midfield under Frank as the Bees defied the odds and, over time, became an established side in the Premier League, largely down to the success enjoyed through their 'moneyball' recruitment strategy under Matthew Benham's ownership.

In total, the 28-year-old has made 87 appearances for Brentford since his switch in July 2021, scoring just the once and providing a further six assists.

Only nine of those outings have come in the opening months of Keith Andrews tenure though, as he has also often been used as a substitute option or failed to make it off the bench in several outings under the former Republic of Ireland international.

Such fortunes have also been down to the high-profile summer arrival of England international and one-time Premier League winner, Jordan Henderson, whilst he has also spent the past four weeks concentrating on AFCON, which comes to an end this weekend.

The man, who spent last season on loan with Augsburg, started in four of the Super Eagles' AFCON outings, including the semi-final, and could now be the subject of a permanent exit from Brentford, with Birmingham and Coventry reportedly plotting moves for his services.

As well as Blues' own midfield pursuits, Coventry have also identified targets in this area such as Sunderland outcast Dan Neil. However, as exclusively revealed by Football League World, they face a fight from Sheffield United on that particular front.

Although neither club are short of cash under the ownerships of Tom Wagner and Doug King, Birmingham or Coventry would still have to pay Onyeka a sizeable wage if they were to secure a deal.

According to ESTIMATED figures from Capology, the combative midfielder collects a base wage of £40,000 per week at the Gtech, which is equal to the wage reportedly earned by Blues' £10m summer signing, Kyogo Furuhashi, whilst the Nigerian would immediately top the Sky Blues' charts ahead of Luke Woolfenden, Matt Grimes, Ellis Simms and Haji Wright, who are all said to be earning £25,000 per week.