Lee Clark makes Birmingham City, Premier League return claim ahead of Demarai Gray reunion | OneFootball

The former Blues academy member is set to come back to his old club, nearly 10 years on from leaving.

Former Birmingham City boss Lee Clark has backed Demarai Gray to lead the club back to the Premier League as he looks set to return to his boyhood team.

Gray is one of a number of successful top flight footballers to have come through the Blues academy system. He made his debut for the club in October 2013 and went on to play 78 times for City before being bought by Leicester City for £3.75 million.

Now, after nearly a decade away from St Andrew's, the 29-year-old winger is closing in on a return to Birmingham. They have reportedly agreed terms with Al-Ettifaq, and the official announcement of his comeback isn't expected to be too far away.

Clark gave Gray his first break in Birmingham's first-team. They were on the verge of relegation to League One when the Jamaican international last played for them. Now his former boss thinks that City's former prodigy will be thinking about leading the Blues back to the top flight for the first time since 2011.

Premier League prediction made amid Birmingham, Demarai Gray links

Top flight side Sunderland were also reported to be interested in Gray, but he is set to turn down an opportunity to immediately return to the Premier League. "I wouldn't [be surprised]," Clark said to Birmingham Live on his former winger rejecting Premier League clubs in favour of a return to his old stomping ground.

"What I'm telling you is, in the football world, Birmingham aren't seen as a Championship club. They're seen as a Premier League club in waiting.

"That's what players, that's what agents see with this football club, because they see the owners, what they're saying, but more importantly what they're doing, they're delivering, they're talking the talk, but they're walking the walk.

"The manager’s come in, been phenomenal in his first season, the way he had them playing football. I closely watched the cup tie against Newcastle. Newcastle finished winning a cup and getting in the Champions League and Birmingham ran them very, very close that night.

It was a terrific cup tie, it was a brilliant game from both teams. So yeah, I don't think anyone's seeing them as a Championship club, to be honest with you.

"I can see similarities to when I went to Fulham. Mohamed Al-Fayed was buying players in, he took over when they finished 91st and then smashed down the line.

"I joined the journey, we got to the Premier League, we got into Europe, but I think the ceiling for Birmingham can be even higher because there's a super-stadium that's potentially on its way.

"The backing, the finances that can create the Premier League now, I just think it's a matter of when, not if, they get to the Premier League, and I'd be delighted because I think the fans have gone through the mill.

"Going back to your question, [Gray] will be going back thinking ‘I mightn’t be a Championship player for too long’. He might be going back to the Premier League with his club, the club he loves.

"So I think that would be a big call for him, definitely, and it'd be a real coup for Birmingham if they can do it this year because he is a top-level footballer."

Demarai Gray represents a perfect transfer plan for Birmingham City

Newly promoted League One sides simply do not make signings of this calibre. This is a move made by the likes of Ipswich Town, his former side Leicester or Southampton, clubs who have just come down from the top flight and are looking for an immediate bounceback.

It should come as no surprise, though, that Birmingham are competing on these plains. Their chairman, Tom Wagner, said that with the revenue they are set to generate they will be able to compete with teams receiving parachute payments from the top flight. It was also reported by Sky Sports that the Blues, and Wrexham, would be challenging the aforementioned ex-Premier League trio for transfer targets this summer.

For a team that wants to invest so heavily, they need to make sure that they aren't constantly having to turn over their squad every time they make a big progression up the pyramid. Gray is a great example of the type of player they need to go for if they want to turn themselves, one day, into a competitive Premier League team.