Birmingham City transfer for ex-Liverpool player could be bad news for Marc Leonard | OneFootball

The potential arrival of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would only limit Marc Leonard's gametime prospects with Blues further

Birmingham City's transfer business this summer generated a sense of excitement and intrigue, with the club looking to immediately make an impression when returning to the Championship.

Whilst some supporters may view it as slightly unrealistic, US ownership group Knighthead have continuously spelled out ambitions of achieving back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League, with plenty of ambitious plans coming in the years to come in this part of the Second City.

Chris Davies was backed significantly prior to and throughout Blues' record-breaking season of third-tier football, and such a theme has continued this summer, with notable captures including Kyogo Furuhashi, Marvin Ducksch, Tommy Doyle, Demarai Gray, Phil Neumann and Bright Osayi-Samuel.

Those signings were coupled with some late-window additions that provide further depth in defensive and creative areas in the form of Jack Robinson and Patrick Roberts respectively — the latter of which was first revealed exclusively by Football League World.

However, it is clear that Birmingham's transfer business didn't fully conclude at 7PM on September 1st, with links to former Arsenal and Liverpool midfielder, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, failing to dissipate.

Birmingham City facing Leeds United competition to sign Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain following Besiktas contract termination

Speculation regarding a potential move to St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park for the 35-cap international initially surfaced via The Mirror on August 18th, before the Athletic swiftly reported that the West Midlands club were yet to table a formal offer for his services.

Since then, Oxlade-Chamberlain, most recently of Besiktas, came to a mutual agreement with the Turkish Süper Lig giants to terminate his contract ahead of its expiration next summer, a situation which has reportedly alerted a plethora of Premier League and Championship sides.

As such, Football Insider now claim that Blues are leading newly-promoted Leeds United in the race to sign the former Premier League and UEFA Champions League winner in an eye-catching transfer move. This came just 24 hours after Football League World exclusively revealed that there was no substance behind reports that linked fellow free agent and ex-England international, Dele Alli, with a switch to B9.

Yet despite being three years senior in comparison to the former Tottenham Hotspur man, the capture of Oxlade-Chamberlain would end worries which some Bluenoses have expressed, such as FLW fan pundit, Jason Moore, yet it could prove even more detrimental to Marc Leonard's individual prospects

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Birmingham City deal could be further bad news for Marc Leonard

Leonard arrived at St. Andrew's in the summer of 2024 after two extremely impressive campaigns in League Two and League One with Northampton Town, and it was, unsurprisingly, viewed as a major coup when Davies was able to land his services for just £500,000 from Brighton and Hove Albion on a long-term deal.

Despite having the ability to be a high-end performer in the third-tier and at least a dependable option for Blues in their current predicament, it was rather unfortunate for the Scot that Seung-Ho Paik and Tomoki Iwata developed an outstanding partnership that was very rarely disrupted last term.

Many believe that a player of Leonard's quality and potential is way too good to be utilised as a squad player. However, that is currently where he finds himself, even further down the pecking order in some ways due to the summer loan arrival of the aforementioned Doyle, with his only minutes and starts coming in EFL Cup encounters against Sheffield United and Port Vale - also being named captain in the latter.

It was a surprise to many that the 23-year-old remained among Blues' squad following last week's transfer deadline, with it being reported earlier in the summer that the club were open to a loan agreement, as well as interest from League One promotion favourites Huddersfield Town, where he would have linked up with Alfie May, who departed the Second City for West Yorkshire.

No one can doubt the talent Leonard possesses. Yet if Oxlade-Chamberlain were to agree to a free transfer in the coming days, it would only further hamper the former Hearts man's prospects when it comes to regular minutes, as a player of such quality and experience - winning the UEFA Champions League, Premier League and multiple FA Cups - will not be satisfied unless adequate gametime is promised, even at 32 years of age and after two underwhelming years in Turkey.