Birmingham City & Ipswich Town in transfer race for player who can deliver "big things" | OneFootball

Birmingham City and Ipswich Town are reportedly lining up potential moves for Stevenage talent Ryan Doherty in the upcoming January transfer window

Birmingham City and Ipswich Town could well be competing neck-and-neck for promotion to the Premier League as the 2025/26 Championship campaign toils on, but for the time being, the two outfits are poised to battle it out for highly-rated Stevenage youngster Ryan Doherty.

As reported on Monday afternoon by Football Insider, both Birmingham and Ipswich are preparing to take action on the much-sought after Stevenage prodigy ahead of the January transfer window.

The mid-season market is lined up to be a crucial one for the two sides, who were both tipped among the pre-season promotion favourites by punters and commentators alike. Birmingham, who lifted the League One title with an EFL-record points haul of 111 last time out, have struggled to deliver on both internal and external promotion-challenging expectations upon their return to the Championship, with the Second City outfit currently positioned in 15th place amid growing pressure surrounding the future of under-fire head coach Chris Davies.

Ipswich, meanwhile, are firmly in promotion contention, with just five points separating Kieran McKenna's side in third from second-placed Middlesbrough after suffering relegation from the Premier League.

However, at the season's midway point, few would have expected Ipswich to find themselves 13 points shy of the table's top spot, which is currently occupied by runaway league leaders Coventry City, and the transfer window represents a strong opportunity for both the Tractor Boys and Blues to solidify their promotion credentials.

Birmingham City, Ipswich Town in transfer battle for Stevenage's Ryan Doherty

With the winter window swiftly approaching, the aforementioned report has revealed interest from Birmingham and Ipswich in the highly-rated services of Doherty.

The duo are said to have registered their interest in the talented teenager, who has enjoyed a mini-breakthrough into the first-team frame at promotion-chasing Stevenage this season in League One.

As per the report, a number of unnamed second-tier sides — including Birmingham and Ipswich, of course — are keeping close tabs on Doherty's development ahead of a potential future move, which could take place as early as January despite the 17-year-old's lack of senior footballing experience.

Last year, prior to his first-team ascent, Doherty was reportedly of interest to a number of Premier League clubs and his exciting reputation is only continuing to grow.

A central midfielder by trade, Doherty made three appearances during Stevenage's 2024/25 EFL Trophy campaign but has featured more prominently this time around under Alex Revell.

The promising midfielder has already played for Stevenage on eight occasions across all competitions so far in 25/26, and made his first league start in Boro's narrow 1-0 defeat at home to promotion rivals Cardiff City earlier this month.

Stevenage boss Alex Revell has predicted "big things" from Birmingham City, Ipswich Town transfer target Ryan Doherty

Doherty's future has been a source of significant chatter and excitement at the Lamex Stadium for some time now, and Stevenage boss Revell has publicly declared his prediction of "big things" to be delivered by the young starlet.

Back in March, Revell discussed his induction of Doherty into the first-team frame of Stevenage and described how bright he feels his future could potentially be.

Such an admission could be music to the ears of Birmingham or Ipswich supporters, even if any potential move surely would not see Doherty immediately enter the first-team plans.

Revell explained: "He's been training with us, and he's been excellent. We wanted to give him the experience [at Leyton Orient] of being involved.

"We're hoping at some point he'll be able to come in because he's training really well and we're just trying to give him as much exposure to what it looks like on a match day with us.

"But there’s hopefully big things to come from him and hopefully quite soon."