How August Priske reacted to Birmingham City's 'crazy' Powerhouse Stadium plans | OneFootball

Blues' January signing was left blown away by the club's long-term vision

Birmingham City's January recruit, August Priske, admits he was left blown away by the club's "crazy" ambition, which includes the new 62,000-seater 'Powerhouse' stadium.

Blues are on a mission to return to the Premier League as swiftly as possible, with Priske seen as one of the final pieces in Chris Davies' current jigsaw at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park after the West Midlands side endured a frustratingly inconsistent first half of the season upon their return to the Championship.

Ever since his appointment in June 2024, Davies has been heavily backed by ownership group, Knighthead Capital Management, in the transfer market to help him become the man that eventually brings top-flight football back to this part of the Second City since May 2011.

However, Birmingham are currently in the thick of a congested battle to reach the play-offs at second tier level for the first time in 14 years, and they are currently four points behind Wrexham in sixth, who they finished 19 points clear of last season on their way to becoming League One champions and the bearers of the EFL's all-time record points total.

Priske was part of a major squad reshuffle conducted by Davies and the club's director of football, Craig Gardner, within the last month, as many players on the fringes of the starting lineup in B9, or that were initially sent on loan to other sides for the first period of the season, were allowed to leave on a permanent or temporary basis.

A mass exodus of those players then allowed Birmingham to recruit six new signings, with the Danish youth international joined alongside Kai Wagner, Jhon Solis, Ibrahim Osman, Carlos Vicente and Jonathan Panzo.

After lighting up the Swedish Allsvenskan with Djurgardens IF, finishing as the division's top scorer last season as his former employers also reached the UEFA Conference League semi-finals, Priske's addition has been met with plenty of excitement, and those feelings have certainly been reciprocated by the 21-year-old.

Priske's switch to St. Andrew's was one which gathered pace rather quickly in mid-January, with the forward attracting interest from the Championship side, as well as Turkish Süper Lig giants, Besiktas and LOSC Lille of the French Ligue 1.

It was then reported that the highly-rated striker agreed a deal worth an initial £6m, with the aforementioned Davies later revealing what initiated his decision to advance a transfer move for Priske ahead of such strong competition.

The striker has since played his first 65 minutes for Blues in two substitute cameos against Stoke City and Oxford United, and will be hoping to eventually land his maiden start for the club in the coming weeks.

After signing a five-and-a-half year contract, it became apparent that Blues and Priske can certainly grow and fulfil their potential alongside each other, which could culminate him still being at the club by the time the £2-3bn Sports Quarter project, which includes the 'Powerhouse' is set to open in 2030.

Unsurprisingly, the forward was rather stunned when he was shown the plans, stating to Birmingham Live that his initial reaction was: “F****** hell!”

“It’s crazy. I had the first meeting with Craig (Gardner) and the manager, and they told me about the ambition and the fact that they backed it up meant a lot to me.

“When you speak to different clubs, they always want to go for something you know, but with certain clubs you can feel that they are putting their money where their mouth is, and I felt like this was one of those clubs. It’s real, what’s going on here," he added.

“After I had the first talk with Birmingham, which was later than other clubs, it was a time to go thing. There weren’t any talks with clubs after Birmingham, I spoke to my agent after the meeting and said, ‘Let’s go for it’.”

August Priske will hope to get his Birmingham City career off to a strong start

After two substitute appearances, Priske has already shown glimpses of what he is about to supporters, and he will hope to justify why he is so highly-rated as soon as possible.

However, he is already battling it out against the likes of Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch for a starting spot, with the latter currently enjoying a rich vein of form.

Next up for Priske and Blues is a home clash with Leicester City, as they look to keep pace with several play-off rivals.