Birmingham City respond to £5m bid in January transfer revelation | OneFootball

Birmingham City turned down a £5m offer for Romelle Donovan from Brentford before je joined the Premier League side on loan.

Birmingham City turned down a £5m offer from Brentford for Romelle Donovan in the recent January window before the attacking midfielder joined the Premier League side on loan.

The 18-year-old came through the ranks at Blues and was very highly-rated at St. Andrew’s, with Donovan even featuring for the first-team at times in the 2023/24 campaign.

However, with regular game time hard to come by, it was decided this summer that Donovan would go out on loan, as he joined fellow League One side Burton Albion, although that was cut short, so he returned to Blues last month.

Brentford made £5m offer for Romelle Donovan

Yet, another move was on the cards, with Brentford making a push to sign Donovan.

Eventually, a loan was agreed, as Donovan linked up with the B team of the Londoners, and he enjoyed an impressive start for the club, having found the net in recent games.

And, in a fresh development, Football Insider has revealed that Brentford had made a bid of £5m to sign the England youth international permanently, but that offer was turned down.

The update adds that Blues believe the teenager could command a bigger fee in the summer, and they feel his performances for Brentford’s B side could attract further interest.

It had been suggested that Brentford included an option-to-buy as part of the agreement, but that has not been confirmed by either club.

Birmingham City are right to stand firm on Romelle Donovan valuation

It does seem inevitable that Donovan will leave Birmingham in the summer, which is a shame for the League One leaders.

In an ideal world, they would be bringing in their own talented players to feature in the first-team, and Donovan is someone who has the potential to do just that.

Yet, the player spoke about wanting to depart as he felt there was a better pathway to the senior squad with the Bees, so it’s hard to see him returning to Blues.

Therefore, if he continues to do well at Brentford, you would expect the two clubs to come to some sort of agreement, but Blues are right to demand a decent sum for Donovan.

He is a very talented player for his age, so Brentford will have to pay a fee to reflect that, and the £5m initial offer shows Blues could be in line for a decent windfall if it’s all sorted in the summer.