Birmingham City will have one eye on Sheffield United deal for midfielder | OneFootball

Romelle Donovan's career was kickstarted at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park

Birmingham City have had great success with their academy in recent years, as showcased on the FIFA World Cup stage above all else at this moment in time.

Indeed, whilst Blues have become one of the most high-profile clubs in the Championship at this moment in time through their American investors, those who watched Jude Bellingham a maximum of 44 times at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park six years ago, during a dark period for the club, continue to feel great pride as the Real Madrid playmaker continues to play a pivotal role for England.

Other names associated with the club's academy setup at the Knighthead Performance Centre include his younger brother, Jobe, who has also gone on to play for Borussia Dortmund, the Championship's current Young Player of the Season, Jordan James, and Demarai Gray, who returned to the West Midlands outfit last summer.

Yet, whilst the academy was granted Category One status last year, current manager, Chris Davies, has received a fair amount of criticism for not bedding in a greater number of homegrown prospects into the first-team fold throughout his tenure, especially after the recent departure of Aurelien Guernier to AC Milan.

Another youngster who, perhaps, wasn't utilised as much as first envisaged was Romelle Donovan, and now those associated with Blues look set to have an even greater eye on the 19-year-old's short-term development for the coming season.

Romelle Donovan saw first-team opportunities limited at Birmingham City

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Donovan had initially been at Birmingham since the age of six, rising through the academy ranks before initially gaining plenty of attention as a highly-rated winger during the second, and final pre-season of John Eustace's tenure in B9.

Despite not being involved in any league fixtures under the current Derby County boss, he made the bench for two EFL Cup encounters against Cheltenham Town and Cardiff City, before being handed his only first-team opportunities at St. Andrew's under the management of Wayne Rooney, which lasted a matter of weeks.

Even prior to Rooney's first match in charge against Middlesbrough in October 2023, the England great waxed lyrical over Donovan's attitude and potential, and handed him the first of 10 outings in a 2-0 loss to Hull City days later.

“I explained this to all the players. The first thing I said was ‘If you don’t want to be here, there’s the door, you can leave. I want players who want to be here. You have to earn the right to play, whether that’s a 16-year-old or a senior player. Whether that’s the best player or a developing player. If you train well you’ll get an opportunity. We have to train how we play'," said the former Blues boss.

However, as Blues were relegated to League One, Donovan played no further part in proceedings, and despite there being initial hope that he would feature more regularly under Davies, an underwhelming loan stint at Burton Albion followed, before the England youth international joined Brentford on a long-term deal for £3m 13 months ago.

Since then, the Birmingham-born winger has racked up 38 minutes of Premier League football for the Bees, with Keith Andrews stating last October that he has "high hopes" for the former Blues prospect, but his major breakthrough could now come away from the Gtech Community Stadium.

Birmingham City will hope to not regret Romelle Donovan decision as Sheffield United swoop

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According to the Telegraph, the Bees have agreed a loan deal with Birmingham's divisional rivals, Sheffield United, which will see Donovan return to the Championship for the first time in three seasons, as he goes in search of regular first-team minutes for the first time.

Like Birmingham, the Blades' season last time out was one which left many supporters underwhelmed, and Chris Wilder is currently overseeing a major rebuild in order for his side to compete for a place in the newly-expanded play-offs.

Donovan could, therefore, be utilised in the right-wing position which now needs plugging at Bramall Lane following the recently surprising transfer which saw United's own academy graduate, Andre Brooks, move to Norwich City for a sizeable fee.

Wilder does have a strong reputation when it comes to developing the game of Premier League clubs' youngsters in S2, which, no doubt, could be a major attraction to the player, as well as Andrews' prior affiliation to the Steel City club as an assistant to the 58-year-old.

Blues fans will now be hoping that they don't live to regret the loss of Donovan further down the line, even if his career does take extra time to get going.