Birmingham City and Stoke eyeing Leeds United transfer - there's a catch | OneFootball

Birmingham City and Stoke are both reportedly interested in Leeds United's Joel Piroe as his Elland Road exit looms, but there's one potential catch

Albeit in different positions and against the backdrop of somewhat contrasting expectations, Birmingham City and Stoke both finished the 2025/26 Championship campaign in mid-table and will share ambitions of strengthening across the summer transfer window in order to progress towards top-six contention next time around.

Birmingham were unapologetically bullish and brazen about their lofty aspirations after achieving promotion from League One, with delivered messages and transfer activity equally indicative of an objective to compete right at the very top of the Championship table.

But it didn't quite play out that way for Blues, who, despite adding a series of high-profile acquisitions to Chris Davies' ranks last summer in the likes of Tommy Doyle, Marvin Ducksch, Kyogo Furuhashi and Demarai Gray, struggled for consistency and form away from St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park and ultimately wound up the season in 10th-place.

Though far from an abject finish for a side who had been in English football's third-tier the previous season, it marked an underwhelming return on Birmingham's ambitions and spending, and they will be looking to recreate waves once the summer months roll around in an effort to contend for promotion next term.

Stoke, meanwhile, emerged as left-field early-season promotion battlers following a remarkable start under Mark Robins, although relegation-worthy form throughout the second-half of the campaign amid a run of just two victories from their last 20 games saw the Potters fall rather drastically to the familiar territory of a lower-mid-table finish in 17th position.

Indeed, Football League World has exclusively revealed that Robins is facing the threat of losing his job in the Potteries as Stoke's key decision-makers weigh up potential candidates elsewhere, but as uncertainty continues to linger over the immediate future of the ex-Coventry City boss, it has emerged that the Staffordshire-based outfit are competing with Birmingham in the race to seal a headline-making addition from Leeds United this summer.

Birmingham City and Stoke in transfer race for Leeds United's Joel Piroe - there's one catch

Leeds will be looking to kick on and further bolster their squad after comfortably securing survival under Daniel Farke upon returning to the Premier League, with no shortage of activity in the transfer market poised to take place at Elland Road in the coming weeks and months.

The Whites will be intent on supplementing Farke's squad with fresh quality while conducting a requisite clear-out of those who have struggled to figure in the German's plans, with one of those players being Joel Piroe.

His future in West Yorkshire has been the subject of speculation for some time amid the Suriname international's struggle for regular minutes at top-flight level, which has prompted links to a number of clubs and a new report from TEAMtalk has now claimed that both Birmingham and Stoke are emerging as suitors.

The pair are said to hold a "general interest" in Piroe's signature, although the report notes that they are yet to make any respective plays to secure his services and that represents a potential roadblock unless their admiration amps up.

As per the latest update, Piroe is currently weighing up his options after being informed that he is surplus to requirements at Leeds, having started just two of his 15 Premier League appearances across a mere spread of 234 top-flight minutes.

The 26-year-old joined Leeds in an eventual £13 million move from Swansea City in the summer of 2024 and fired the side to promotion back to the Premier League, although he now has little future with the Whites and is fielding widespread interest.

PSV Eindhoven, where Piroe started his career before moving to the Championship with Swansea, alongside Rangers, are also noted among the forward's despite the Scottish giants having been knocked back with an approach in the last transfer window, whereas Middlesbrough have long been linked with a move but are reportedly unlikely to advance that pursuit in the event of achieving promotion in this Saturday's play-off final against Hull City.

Leeds United's Joel Piroe will not come cheap for Birmingham City or Stoke

It should come as no surprise that, even though Piroe cuts a peripheral figure at Leeds these days, Farke's side are still intent on recouping a decent fee in order to sanction his sale at some stage in the summer.

That's because the report has claimed that a sum of £8-10 million will be required to seal the deal, which may work better for big-spending Birmingham than Stoke.

Either way, it appears to be something of an inevitability that Piroe's future is destined to be away from Elland Road, and it's equally unsurprising to see that Championship clubs are in the mix to prise him away considering the ex-Swansea starlet's body of work at second-tier level.

Piroe scored 22 and 19 goals apiece in each of his two seasons in South Wales before earning a move to Leeds, which saw him orchestrate a talismanic role behind their promotion at the second time of asking following a somewhat-mixed debut campaign.

Having found the back of the net on 14 occasions in the 23/24 campaign as Leeds lost to Southampton in the play-off final, Piroe won the Championship's golden boot with 19 strikes - alongside a further seven assists - to help the Whites lift the league title, and while he's unlikely to play any part in their efforts in the promised land, such a record is sure to stand the outcasted attacker out as a hot property on the second-tier market.