Birmingham City transfer chase for 'explosive' star raises real questions - Liverpool action may be taken | OneFootball

Lewis Koumas' time at St. Andrew's could be reaching a swift end

There have been a plethora of mixed assessments when gauging how successful Birmingham City's summer transfer window has proven to be thus far.

At present, the most impressive summer recruits for Chris Davies have been the wide duo of Demarai Gray - who returned to St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park after nine years away - and Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers loanees in the form of Patrick Roberts and Tommy Doyle.

However, not all have been hits, as Japanese international and £10m signing, Kyogo Furuhashi, has exemplified with a run of 19 league games without a goal since joining from Stade Rennais in July.

Such a mixture of thoughts on the 14 permanent and temporary incomings which were acquired to bolster what many believed was an already competent Championship-level squad can also align with Birmingham's current form and league position, with there being just one more round of second tier fixtures until Christmas Day.

At present, Blues are on a run of one win in their past four outings, which came in front of the Sky Sports cameras at St. Andrew's against Watford, whilst subsequent below-par results and performances - particularly away from the West Midlands - resulted in back-to-back defeats against Queens Park Rangers and Southampton before a 1-1 draw versus an out-of-form Charlton Athletic side in B9.

Davies had previously been credited for a handful of noticeable tweaks which saw the Second City outfit hit 14 goals in four home outings between November and the turn of the month, albeit the 40-year-old has, on the flipside, received criticism as to how Blues approach away fixtures.

As such, the upcoming January window could be make or break for Blues, who are currently five points behind Hull City in sixth with 21 games remaining.

And, after previously discussing a potential recall from Liverpool, links to FC Basel winger, Philipe Otele, will only raise further question marks over the immediate future of Lewis Koumas.

Indeed, it came rather out of left-field when Birmingham found themselves linked with Otele's services alongside current FA Cup holders and UEFA Conference League competitors, Crystal Palace.

The Nigerian has been a hit at St Jakob Park since initially moving to the Swiss Super League side midway through their title-winning campaign last term from Al-Wahda in a deal which was made permanent for a reported €3m in the summer.

Otele has scored 17 times and provided seven assists for Basel in the past 11 months, with English supporters able to catch a glimpse of his dynamism and pace on occasions last Thursday as 'RotBlau' were defeated by Birmingham's bitter rivals and UEFA Europa League favourites, Aston Villa, courtesy of strikes from Evan Guessand and Youri Tielemans.

Basel sporting director, Daniel Stucki, described the 26-year-old, who has scored eight times across all competitions so far this term, as an "explosive player" due to his pace and trickery on the left flank - not too dissimilar to Gray, who has reminded everyone of his Premier League quality with an array of stunning finishes for Blues.

Birmingham are, of course, a club unafraid to splash the cash in order to sign top-level performers, and they will have to do exactly that if they are to fend off Oliver Glasner's top-flight high-flyers next month, with it being claimed that whilst Otele wants an English move, Basel are demanding a fee of between €8m and €10m.

Potential Philipe Otele, Birmingham City transfer could spark Liverpool, Lewis Koumas recall

It is no surprise that after his return to Birmingham, Gray immediately slotted into Davies' system as first-choice on the left flank ahead of Keshi Anderson, whose performances in League One often went under the radar.

However, it was also clear that the Blues boss was in the market for further reinforcements, which arrived in the form of Koumas, who secured a second loan stint away from Anfield after previously enduring a somewhat frustrating spell at Stoke City last term.

Despite making his Liverpool breakthrough in Jürgen Klopp's final season, Koumas has looked to enhance his development and physicality in the Championship. However, something appears to not be working for the nine-cap international at St. Andrew's, with Davies recently failing to rule out a recall.

“We brought Lewis here to help Birmingham City win games of football because that’s our number one objective but we also knew that we brought a player in that’s a Liverpool player that they wanted to see develop and improve," he said.

“I always say if you’re not playing, I hope you’re getting as much development as you can in terms of training, meetings and coaching, but they all want the game time so if it comes to a point with Lewis, as an example, where he’s not feeling he’s getting the game time, or Liverpool feel he’s not, or we come to a situation, then we would look at it.”

The Chester-born attacker is yet to register a goal contribution in royal blue, and has only started in four of his 16 league appearances. As such, it showcases how much he is valued, to a degree, as a squad player, but Birmingham and Liverpool must assess what is right for his overall development.

It remains to be seen what move, if any, is made first. However, if Otele was to snub Selhurst Park and move to Birmingham, then even more questions over Koumas' future would be raised if he was still on Blues' books in the short-term.