Birmingham City are down to the bare bones in the full back position – while one of last season’s players has regained his international berth
Football Correspondent for Reach, journalist covering the Premier League and EFL for more than 20 years, a lover of most non-animal based or traffic-related sports and extreme cold water.
Diego Gonzalez is tackled by Lee Myung Jae during the international friendly between South Korea and Paraguay at Seoul World Cup Stadium on October 14, 2025 in Seoul(Image: Getty Images)
Birmingham City made a couple of ‘see us through’ signings in the January transfer window, players who came in, didn’t feature much but were there for depth.
Grant Hanley was one, the veteran centre back who arrived on a short-term contract to make sure Blues didn’t repeat the Kevin Long error of the previous year when they left themselves short-handed at the back.
Hanley did what he was asked to do – which was mostly come on late in games and see things out – pretty well. There was, though, barely any talk of the 33-year-old remaining at St Andrew’s in the Championship.
After 14 League One appearances for the club, 11 off the bench, he moved on and signed a two-year deal at Hibernian.
Hanley has started four of Hibs’ six Premiership matches so far this term and continues to play an important role for Scotland.
The centre back played the full 90 minutes in the 3-1 win over Greece, embellished by another Lyndon Dykes late show, but stayed on the bench for the 2-1 win over Belarus.
The Scots have a chance of going to the World Cup in North America next summer and Hanley has a chance of making the trip.
Blues’ other insurance signing was the little known South Korean Lee Myung-jae who had played all but one season of his long career in the K-League.
When Lee Buchanan suffered a distressing knee injury just after Christmas, Blues needed a back up to Alex Cochrane. Still do in some ways.
They turned to a 31-year-old South Korean international who signed from Ulsan HD and joined compatriot Paik Seung-ho in Chris Davies’ squad.
Unfortunately he rarely joined him on the pitch and it was more than two months before he was seen, for the final 20 minutes of the 0-0 draw with Crawley Town.
He made his first of just two starts six days later and turned in a very good display, only for Cochrane to replace him and score the winner.
For what it was worth Lee started the final match of the season, a 2-1 win at Cambridge, and put in a man of the match display.
With Buchanan out long term it didn’t seem ridiculous to suggest Lee be retained for another season if only as cover to Cochrane.
In the end that didn’t happen, though it still doesn’t seem as though it was the world’s worst idea, and he returned to his homeland.
Lee signed for Daejeon Hana, who are third and for whom he has played regularly enough to return to the South Korea squad.
The left back won his eighth cap in the 2-2 draw with Mexico last month and has today played in the 2-0 win over Paraguay, sending in a dangerous cross from the left that led to Eom Ji-Sung opening goal.
Paik, who came off the bench in the 5-0 hammering by Brazil at the weekend, remained safely out of harm’s way among the substitutes.
For Lee, though, his few months in Birmingham feel like a ghost of a memory as Davies once again continues to rely on the fitness of Cochrane with virtually no cover.
It’s only fair to admit we don’t know if Blues threw everything they could at Lee to tempt him to stay – but if they didn’t at least ask the question they could have taken an avoidable risk.
Would you have liked Lee to stay at Blues? Have your say here
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