Birmingham City’s attack underperformed in the Championship last season and there will be tweaks this summer
16:14, 14 May 2026Updated 17:28, 14 May 2026
Birmingham City manager Chris Davies embraces Marvin Ducksch
Birmingham City need to get more out of their attack next season.
Their defensive record stacks up against the Championship’s best, but they were the lowest scorers in the top half of the table.
Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch just about managed double figures in the league to share the club’s top scorer award but no one else made a significant goal-scoring contribution.
Ultimately, forwards decide football matches and when Blues have been successful at this level before they have had an abundance of attacking weapons.
The last time Blues won promotion to the Premier League they had a strikeforce of Cameron Jerome, James McFadden, Kevin Phillips, Garry O’Connor and Marcus Bent.
Blues reporter Alex Dicken has taken a look at their current options and where they can improve in his latest departmental review.
Wingers
Blues ended last season with four wingers that would be valuable assets to most Championship teams. Carlos Vicente and Ibrahim Osman were Davies’ preferred starters in the final weeks of the season because of their running power.
Vicente has been singled out as a work-horse by Davies and that is one of the reasons why Patrick Roberts didn’t get a look-in in the final five.
The Spaniard arrived in January for an initial £7million and you always feared that he would swiftly take Roberts’ place in the line-up.
Where Roberts gives Blues craft and creativity, Vicente gives them speed, dynamism and that is currently Davies’ preferred mode of attack.
Osman proved to be an irresistible force in the Championship and Davies has made no secret of his desire to bring the Ghanaian back to St Andrew’s.
Brighton didn’t include an option-to-buy in the loan agreement with Blues, as they did with Auxerre last summer, but there is hope that the Premier League club will deal.
The question is whether Osman has more attractive suitors at this moment in time than Championship Blues.
Similarly to Stansfield two years ago, Blues have made an enormous effort behind the scenes to make Osman feel wanted, but the fee would be significant.
What does Blues’ pursuit of Osman mean for Demarai Gray? Not a lot. Gray will start next season as one of four and if the Osman deal – or a move for an alternative – drags into the summer then the Brummie will have a headstart on his competitor.
Gray struggled to recapture his pre-Christmas form after injury and there is a school of thought that maybe he needs pre-season to reboot.
He will be 30 at the start of next season and won’t want to play second fiddle to Osman or anyone else.
Demarai Gray of Birmingham City
Strikers
Stansfield and August Priske are seemingly the two centre-forwards Davies wants to build his Championship assault around.
Record buy Stansfield remains the leading light of Blues’ attack, but Davies won’t want to rely on him so heavily next season. Blues need viable alternatives.
The biggest compliment Davies paid Priske came in his final press conference of the season. Reflecting on Blues’ improvement in the final weeks of the season, Davies said: “I don’t think we would have been able to play like we have done without August.”
Blues are seemingly set on playing with a physical centre-forward and as the man in the building, Priske has first dibs on the role going into next season.
The two strikers with uncertain futures are Kyogo Furuhashi and Ducksch.
Kyogo was a significant signing from Rennes last year and only scored one Championship goal. It was apparent that Davies had lost faith in Kyogo long before he started being cut from the match-day squad in January.
The 31-year-old’s finishing was wayward and it seems unlikely that he will stick around for next season.
The Ducksch case is different. Ducksch has produced the goods in front of goal, with 11 across all competitions in 36 matches, but his presence prevents Blues from playing the Davies way.
Dating back to Davies’ first few sessions as Blues manager in pre-season two years ago, the 41-year-old has relentlessly drilled home a ‘press to score’ message.
Ducksch doesn’t press like Stansfield or Priske and Blues lose a key facet of their identity with him in the XI.
That then begs the question as to whether Ducksch would be interested in sticking around for a lesser role. With a number of teams already linked to Ducksch and a return to Germany a possibility, a parting of ways is a possibility this summer.
Marvin Ducksch of Birmingham City
What needs to happen?
Signing Osman would be the dream scenario for Davies. There would be no settling in period and Osman, 21, has bags of potential and room for improvement.
Blues would have a player capable of setting the Championship alight IF they can strike a deal with Brighton.
If Blues can offload Kyogo and Ducksch, they would be able to acquire more suitable strikers for the Championship.
That is easier said than done given the three-year contracts handed out to Kyogo and Ducksch last summer. Both players are into their thirties and have little resale value.
In an ideal world, Blues would re-sign Osman and bag two new strikers this summer to complement Stansfield and Priske.
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