Fresh reaction given to Phil Neumann exit talk at Birmingham City - 'it would be a massive blow' | OneFootball

Phil Neumann has become the subject of rather surprise exit talk at St. Andrew's

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Birmingham City have been urged to snub any transfer advances for German centre-back Phil Neumann amid reported interest from Serie A outfit, Sassuolo.

It has been claimed that the Italian side have the 28-year-old centre-back on their transfer radar as a potential signing between now and the set transfer deadline of February 2nd, just six months after his long-awaited arrival at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park was confirmed.

The current Championship season has been an intriguing watch from a Blues perspective, with the West Midlands side's ambitious ownership group, Knighthead Capital Management, making it very clear that they hope to oversee an eventual return to the Premier League for the first time since May 2011.

The first step of Tom Wagner's well-publicised rebuild was completed last summer as Birmingham romped to the League One title at a 19-point and record-breaking canter, amassing 111 points before looking to immediately make their mark on the second tier and potentially becoming the second club in three years to achieve successive promotions through to the top flight.

Whilst Chris Davies has previously debunked such theories, many outsiders and pundits found it extremely tough not to place the Second City outfit in and amongst the promotion conversation, particularly after they conducted another high-profile summer recruitment drive.

Indeed, Neumann was one of 14 permanent or temporary additions made in the opening months of the campaign, linking up with Blues on a free transfer after agreeing a pre-contract agreement 12 months ago.

However, after immediately becoming a mainstay in Davies' backline, the German has already impressed clubs currently higher up the food chain than Birmingham, regardless of the club's lofty future plans.

Despite only being confirmed as a Blues player on July 1st, Neumann's links to the B9 club can be traced back up to the club's first transfer window under Davies, where they were unable to land his services, as Hannover 96 looked to keep the defender at the Niedersachsenstadion beyond the expiration of his contract last June.

However, those ambitions were quashed, and not without controversy too, in the months leading up to Birmingham's final 111-point haul.

Indeed, Neumann put pen-to-paper on a pre-contract agreement in January 2025, with the timing of said agreement being confirmed certainly irking Hannover sporting director, Marcus Mann, who publicly took aim at the Midlands club for their actions.

After being heavily involved throughout pre-season, Neumann immediately slotted into Birmingham's back four, with captain Christoph Klarer subsequently moving across to left-centre-back following the departure of former Rangers loanee Ben Davies, who featured prominently last term.

The 6"2 figure has since scored twice against Preston North End and Southampton, whilst also looking rather assured alongside Klarer and, occasionally, Jack Robinson in his first 21 appearances in royal blue.

However, whilst his name was not part of a major squad overhaul plan that was exclusively revealed by Football League World, Italian journalist, Maurizio Russo, has revealed Sassuolo's interest in the defender, as well as stating the signing - if it happened - may not be fully linked to the Serie A side's potential loss of Bosnian ace, Tarik Muharemovic, who, ironically, has been reportedly targeted by Aston Villa.

Given his performances and Blues' current situation in defence, FLW's Birmingham City fan pundit, Jason Moore, believes Neumann should not be going anywhere.

"I think it would be a massive blow," Moore stated.

"He's been pretty solid for us most of the season. The way we set up, we have four centre-backs as part of the squad.

"We've just lost (Eiran) Cashin, and we've only got Robinson and Klarer. It would be a massive blow.

"I personally don't see it happening," he claimed. "Purely because of the fact I think it would take a pretty decent fee for the club, and Neumann, to think about it moving as he's just relocated and wants to play in England.

"If he was to go, it would be a massive blow as it would leave us so, so short. You only have to have an injury to Robinson or Klarer, and we're playing a youngster, (Kai) Wagner or (Alex) Cochrane at centre-back.

"It would be a massive blow to lose him. But, I just don't see it.

"I don't see us spending the amount of time it took for us to get him, just for him to leave straight away.

"Maybe in the summer. You never know, but in January, I can't see it," Moore added.

Birmingham City would be left with a major issue if Phil Neumann made a swift exit

It will leave Blues supporters reassured that there is no suggestion that Neumann is pushing for a swift exit so soon into his spell at St. Andrew's.

As Moore alluded to, Cashin was recalled by Brighton and sent back out on loan to Blackburn Rovers earlier in the week after only receiving a minimal number of starts, and aside from the German, Klarer and Robinson, there are no other senior defensive options at Davies' disposal.

Therefore, it would only make logical sense for Birmingham to recruit a replacement, and potentially, even further depth after Cashin's exit, rather than presenting themselves with an even greater issue by losing Neumann, who has aclimatised really well to the Championship, even though a profit would be recorded.