Carlos Vicente reveals club he'd 'love' to join if he left Birmingham City | OneFootball

Carlos Vicente has opened up about his desire to one day return to his native club, Real Zaragoza

Birmingham City made a splash in both transfer windows this past season, with their spending in January arguably a bit more impressive than their summer business.

Jhon Solis and August Priske both arrived as young prospects with plenty of potential and top-flight experience already under their belts. Patrick Roberts' loan move was made permanent from Sunderland, and Kai Wagner bolstered the left-back position.

Topping the lot, though, was Carlos Vicente, who was one of the final arrivals through the door at St Andrew's, signing from La Liga outfit Alaves for a reported €8 million fee.

It's arguable that, so far, it's taken him a little while to get acclimatised to the Championship. He scored 10 in 25 in the first half of the campaign in Spain, but only managed three goals in 17 during his first few months at Birmingham.

Nevertheless, there's still plenty of hope and expectation that the 27-year-old can improve in his first full season. He started in the final six games for Chris Davies' side, as the Blues ended the campaign strongly after falling as far as 16th after the Easter Weekend.

Carlos Vicente reveals desire to one day return to Real Zaragoza

Despite moving over to England to play for Birmingham in January, Vicente hasn't shied away from his love for his hometown club, Real Zaragoza.

The 27-year-old came through the academy there, but couldn't break into the senior side, playing in the third and fourth tiers in Spain with the B team at Zaragoza and then for other Spanish sides before he burst onto the scene with Alaves in the top flight.

Since leaving Zaragoza, though, Los Manos, who have a rich history in La Liga, have slipped further and further down the second tier in Spain and find themselves staring down the barrel of relegation to the third tier for just the second time in their history, and the first since 1947.

Speaking on a Spanish podcast, La Orta Grada, Vicente, who has returned home at the culmination of the Championship campaign, spoke about how difficult it has been to see his boyhood club at the bottom of the Segunda División.

"I've only been here a day, and I know from teammates that the situation isn't the best, that's for sure," he said. "I've watched almost all the matches, and they don't deserve it. Other clubs have been through similar situations. It's still football, and a bad year can be detrimental.

"I don't like seeing my hometown club in this situation. I'm very optimistic; everything happens for a reason, and I'm sure they'll come out of this stronger."

On whether he'd love to return to the club he grew up with, Vicente added, "Of course I'd like to play for the club of my life. My family is from there, my friends are fans of the club, and I'd love to be able to live in my city and experience wonderful things. Of course, it excites me.

"Returning would be like coming full circle. I've never hidden how thrilled I'd be to play here."

Carlos Vicente's focus right now will be on Birmingham City

Despite how glowingly he speaks of Real Zaragoza, Vicente will still have his full focus on his current situation at Birmingham, with three years left on his Blues deal.

Additionally, both parties' trajectories are going in completely separate directions currently, with Zaragoza seemingly a mess on the field and the 27-year-old meanwhile showing top-flight qualities that have him as one of the centre-pieces of a project to get into the Premier League.

So, this dream move may likely not materialise for a good number of years, and now, it's all about improving in his first full year at St Andrew's and putting up the kind of numbers that made the Blues spend €8 million to bring him in.

Birmingham will almost definitely be bolstering their squad this summer with more players worth a similar price tag, too, so the pressure to impress won't be directly on the wideman's shoulders.

Although with three goals in 10 starts out wide in the second half of this season, he hasn't exactly crumbled under that pressure in his short time at the club so far.