Who is August Priske? The 18-goal star Birmingham City are close to signing | OneFootball

FLW have profiled the 21-year-old amid links to St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park

Reports on Thursday morning suggest that Birmingham City are leading the race to sign August Priske from Swedish Allsvenskan side, Djurgardens IF.

Blues have been heavily linked with several attackers since the opening of the current winter transfer window, with Football League World exclusively revealing earlier this week that a move for yet another highly-rated prospect from the Swedish top flight, Abdoulie Manneh, had collapsed due to a stalemate in negotiations.

Claims have also recently emerged over the potential for the Second City club to explore a homecoming for previous St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park favourite and Scotland international, Che Adams, whilst exit talk has surrounded both Kyogo Furuhashi and Lyndon Dykes in the past week or so.

Whilst it is expected that Kyogo will remain in the West Midlands after netting his second goal for the club in last Saturday's 3-2 success over Cambridge United in the FA Cup, Dykes has since seen his expected departure to Charlton Athletic confirmed.

Football League World did exclusively reveal that the 48-time Scotland international would not see an exit sanctioned unless a replacement was sourced, and that could come in the form of Priske.

According to Danish publication, TipsBladet, Blues are currently leading the way for the 21-year-old's signature ahead of Turkish Süper Lig side, Besiktas, and French Ligue 1 giants, LOSC Lille.

A report also indicates that Djurgardens are close to concluding negotiations with the West Midlands outfit, whilst Priske is also believed to be content with the personal terms put on the table by Tom Wagner and Co.

Although the striker is making plenty of waves in Scandinavia due to his goalscoring prowess at such a young age, it must be said that he will still be a relative unknown to Bluenoses.

With that being said, FLW have profiled all you need to know about Priske ahead of his potential switch.

August Priske in profile as Birmingham City close in on deal for 18-goal striker

Despite being born in Genk, Belgium on March 23rd 2004, Priske has represented Denmark across a plethora of age groups at international youth level.

Indeed, this is down to his heritage, with his father, Brian, hailing from Horsens, where he progressed through the ranks before enjoying a successful career across Europe, which coincided with a move to Genk between 2003 and 2005, before he joined Portsmouth, initially under Alain Perrin.

Like his father, who is currently the head coach of Slavia Prague, August began his youth career with AC Horsens, before moving onto FC Midtjylland and FC Copenhagen, although he would return to the former in the summer of 2017 to continue his eventual progression into the first-team fold, which began four years later.

After making one senior appearance for Midtjylland, Priske's signature was courted by Eredivisie outfit, PSV Eindhoven, and he would link up with the club's reserve side, 'Jong PSV' for the second half of the 2021/22 campaign, scoring on his debut in the Eerste Divisie in a 5-1 success over Almere City.

Priske returned to PSV's 'Jong' side for the 2022/23 season, scoring three league goals, before initially returning to Midtjylland.

However, in an ironic turn of events, the forward would be on his way back to Eindhoven in the summer of 2023, only this time securing a loan move to FC Eindhoven, where he found the back of the net three times in 29 appearances.

Despite the fact he was under contract at the MCH Arena until June 2028, Priske secured a first permanent career transfer to Djurgardens for a reported €300,000.

His first season with the Stockholm club couldn't have panned out better on a personal level, as he scored 18 times in 35 Allsvenskan outings, as well as featuring 10 times in the UEFA Conference League, which included the semi-finals against eventual winners, Chelsea.

However, 18 months later, it appears as though Priske could be set for a breakout in the English game with Blues, and it will be intriguing to see if his prior form translates itself into the Championship.

August Priske may hold the attributes that Birmingham City have been missing

Despite being an unknown quantity in England, Priske may hold the attributes that Blues have been missing in their attacking department, regardless of the qualities which Jay Stansfield and six-goal signing, Marvin Ducksch, can provide.

Priske has been described as a "complete forward" that is effective in progressing play forward, as well as having the ability to get his attacking colleagues involved in play.

As such, we could certainly begin to see more of an in-game involvement from the likes of Stansfield, who has drifted in and out of games at times, as well as an even greater involvement from the likes of Demarai Gray and Patrick Roberts in wide areas, which is a mouthwatering prospect for Davies and Blues supporters.