Claim made on Marc Leonard's Birmingham City future - 'unless someone were to offer us £5m' | OneFootball

Marc Leonard has struggled for consistent game time this season at Birmingham City

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…

After a record-breaking campaign last season in League One, romping to the third division title with 111 points, the expectation ahead of this season was that Birmingham City would take the EFL Championship by storm. But so far, it hasn't exactly played out that way.

Under head coach Chris Davies, the Blues have assembled a highly competitive squad all across the pitch, with players vying for minutes in almost every position.

Brighton and Hove Albion loanee James Beadle has had to compete with Ryan Allsop in goal, summer signings Phil Neumann, Eiran Cashin, and Jack Robinson have all had to compete for minutes in defence, whilst even the £10 million arrival of attacker Kyogo Furuhashi from French outfit Rennes has been relegated to the bench as of late.

The midfield, however, has largely remained the same as last season, with both Seung-ho Paik and Tomoki Iwata holding down their places in the middle of the park, but the loan addition of Tommy Doyle has meant that Marc Leonard's game time hasn't gotten any better.

Last season, Leonard made 35 appearances in League One for Birmingham, though only 14 of those were starts, and that trend has seemed to continue into this campaign, with only three starts in eight league appearances thus far.

His lack of game time might mean that sooner rather than later, he will want to play on a consistent basis, and with the January window approaching, teams will no doubt have one eye on his situation.

Marc Leonard has been urged to stay at Birmingham City this January despite a lack of consistent game time

Football League World's Birmingham City fan pundit, Jason, has provided their view on whether they believe that Leonard should either be sold or loaned out this January, given his lack of game time.

Jason said, "I personally don't think that we should. I think that there is a real, real player in there, and you can just tell that he has got something about him.

"I also wouldn't be too disappointed if we were to let him go. I think it mainly all sits with how Marc Leonard feels, how he feels, how his career is developing, because, unfortunately for him, as good a player that he is, he's bottom of the pecking list.

"He's been good this season, to be fair. Whenever we have called upon him, he has been good. Unfortunately, he's just not as good as Paik, he's not quite as good as Tommy Doyle, and he doesn't quite offer what Iwata does, so I do feel sorry for him.

"If it were me, I'm not getting rid of him, I'd rather keep him. Unless someone were to offer us £5m for Marc Leonard, then yeah, sure, I'd sell him, but no, if you ask me right here, right now, not knowing a fee, I would be keeping him.

"I definitely one-hundred per cent would not be loaning him out."

Marc Leonard has struggled for consistent game time this season at Birmingham City, with strong competition ahead of him in the pecking order

Since joining Birmingham in the summer of 2024 from Brighton, Leonard has never nailed down one of the spots in Davies' midfield.

Davies has more often than not adopted to use a 4-2-3-1 shape, with Paik and Iwata his preferred combination as the midfield two, and now with the emergence of Doyle, his game time hasn't increased like he would have been hoping.

In the three league games that Leonard has started this season, Birmingham have been victorious in none of them, losing to each of Middlesbrough and Bristol City, whilst drawing with Wrexham.

This record will be doing him no favours as he tries to stake a claim to be in the side on a more consistent basis, and if his game time continues to be limited, his best option may be to leave either on loan or permanently to seek more game time, and to not risk stagnating.

What the January window has in store for Leonard remains to be seen, but the consensus among Birmingham fans is that he should stay; it will be down to him on what he thinks is the best option for his career.