"I think people forget" - Claim made on Birmingham City ace Jay Stansfield amid price-tag pressure | OneFootball

FLW's Birmingham City fan pundit outlined his thoughts on whether Jay Stansfield is justifying the club's eight-figure outlay so far

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...

The transfer fee which brought Jay Stansfield back to Birmingham City from Fulham last summer has been the subject of both speculation and scrutiny, but according to FLW's Blues fan pundit, the young striker is living up to what is known to be a considerable price tag by League One standards.

Birmingham's top-brass were keen to make a significant splash and sent out a statement of their ambitious intentions back in the summer after the side suffered relegation to League One.

With an incomparably-strong financial muscle to flex to their third-tier rivals, Blues went big to secure deals for the likes of Christoph Klarer, Tomoki Iwata and Willum Willumsson.

But undoubtedly the most outstanding capture was that of Stansfield, who had impressed on loan in the Championship last season and made a sensational return on deadline day by signing permanently from Fulham.

The exact details of the fee shelled out for the striker remains unclear, but BirminghamLive played down initial reports elsewhere of a £20 million figure, instead confirming it to be in excess of £10 million - which still represents an outstanding figure at this level, and a League One record by some distance, of course.

Jay Stansfield is justifying his price tag for Birmingham City

FLW asked our Blues fan pundit, Mike Gibbs, if he believes Stansfield is justifying the club's considerable outlay. It had, of course, been widely questioned as to why Birmingham were paying at least eight figures for a player in English football's third-tier, but Mike believes his side are seeing a good bang for their buck thus far.

"Yeah, I don't think you can ask much more of Jay Stansfield," Mike told FLW.

"His goals and assists return since he joined has been exemplary. He's been asked to play in a number of different positions out on the left, out on the right and up front, and I think he's done really well.

"As much as we dominate teams and possession, he hasn't had a huge number of chances, he's had to fashion his own chances as well. I think from my perspective, he definitely has lived up to the price tag.

"I think people forget as well that he's still only 21 years old, he's very young but he's leading the line for us and it's a lot on his shoulders at a young age. He's only going to get better and better."

Jay Stansfield's 24/25 form for Birmingham City

Stansfield, who found the back of the net on 13 occasions for Blues last time out, has only picked up where he left off in the Second City.

As expected, the 22-year-old has been extremely prolific in League One, which admittedly does not justify the figure straight away - his long-term potential, however, could definitely ensure that figure resembles a real snip in the future.

His inspired form this term certainly bodes well. From just 21 appearances, Stansfield has returned a tally of 14 goals, a figure only eclipsed by Wycombe Wanderers hotshot Richard Kone and former Stockport County loanee Louie Barry, who is now on loan at Hull City from Aston Villa, and both of whom have more minutes under their belt than the Blues frontman.

Birmingham, perhaps, have not been as electrifying in front of goal as many predicted - as Mike aludes to, of course - but they still remain top of the league with four points and two games to their advantage over second-placed Wycombe, and Stansfield's goals are proving key to putting them on their journey back to the Championship and beyond.