Birmingham City set to face dangerous threat v Hull City - Chris Davies may have serious regret | OneFootball

Oli McBurnie has been in exceptional form for the Tigers, but he could have ended up at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park

Championship football is back on the agenda this weekend, with plenty of clubs hoping to build momentum in the upcoming block of six fixtures ahead of the next international break.

The second tier is currently as wide-open as it's ever been in recent times, with the six teams relegated from the Premier League and promoted from League One all enduring plenty of mixed fortunes thus far, on top of several sides looking to progress forward after last season.

Birmingham City's overall fortunes had been well-documented across the opening nine games of the season, such is the expectation that has surrounded the West Midlands club off the back of a record-breaking campaign in the third tier.

An already competent Championship-standard squad was further added to by Knighthead Capital Management's financial backing, and this included signings such as James Beadle, Bright Osayi-Samuel, Phil Neumann, Tommy Doyle, Patrick Roberts, as well as the striking duo of Kyogo Furuhashi and Marvin Ducksch.

The Japanese and German centre-forwards both moved to England for the first time this summer, having previously enjoyed strong levels of success at clubs such as Celtic and Werder Bremen respectively, albeit Kyogo would join from Rennes after an underwhelming stint following his Parkhead exit.

The duo, on top of club-record signing, Jay Stansfield, were expected to provide a bucket-load of goals for Blues this term. However, such circumstances are yet to pan out, and Saturday's upcoming clash with Hull City could show Chris Davies what his side have been missing.

The Tigers have made small strides of progress under Sergej Jakirovic thus far, and are currently one place above Blues in 15th, by virtue of a stronger goal difference.

A lot of that work has been down to the major transfer coup of Oli McBurnie, with the seasoned Championship campaigner moving to the MKM Stadium on a free transfer on an initial three-year contract.

Indeed, the 17-time Scotland international was the most high-profile of the Bosnian's 12 incomings, which were all conducted on free and loan deals amid a transfer fee restriction.

Hull smartly took advantage of a clause in his previous deal with Las Palmas, which allowed the Leeds-born forward to be acquired for £0 after their relegation from La Liga last season, where he still scored three times and posted six assists in 34 games.

However, that isn't to say they were the only side reportedly interested in striking said agreement, with Birmingham also in the race for his signature for a prolonged period alongside the likes of former club Swansea City and Ipswich Town.

A return to his native Yorkshire has reminded everyone of how dangerous the 29-year-old and one-time promotion winner can be at this level.

No player in the second tier currently has more goal involvements than McBurnie's tally of nine from as many appearances, whilst all of Ryan Giles' league-high five assists thus far have all been turned home by the centre-forward. Such form, unsurprisingly, culminated in him being named as the Championship's Player of the Month for September.

Jakirovic's side have only been on the losing side in one of the outings he has scored in, which, ironically, came in their last away fixture - a 2-1 defeat to Watford on September 27th.

This comes at a time when the aforementioned Furuhashi and Ducksch are yet to get off the mark, at least in the league, for Blues, with Davies recently making several changes to his starting lineups amid a run of one win in the last six Championship matches.

Such a run has coincided with the fact Davies' side are still ranked 22nd when it comes to shots on target per match, whilst their upcoming opponents sit in second, further showcasing how efficient the signing of McBurnie.

Oli McBurnie has already helped serve transfer regret for Hull City this season

As previously mentioned, McBurnie was linked with a potential return to the Swansea.Com Stadium, as well as even heavier links of a move back to Sheffield United, who he featured for between 2019 and 2024 under Chris Wilder, Slavisa Jokanovic and Paul Heckingbottom.

His first away goal in the league for the Tigers would ironically come in South Wales as he turned home a low Giles cross, before doing so twice against Heckingbottom's Preston North End side on September 30th.

However, the striker was a man in focus ahead of the recent 1-0 success Hull enjoyed over the Blades on October 4th, with Wilder stating that his former colleague should have been in the squad for the rock-bottom visitors, and that his presence would have most likely aided a completely different start to the season than the disaster which has unfolded at Bramall Lane.

As such, McBurnie has already been the scourge of former managers and head coaches, as well as proving plenty of skeptics wrong - a theme which could continue in B9 this weekend.