![\"Demarai](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Coventry-City-v-Birmingham-City-Sky-Bet-Championship.jpg\")
Demarai Gray has had to pull out of international duty with Jamaica.(Image: Leila Coker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nDemarai Gray has had to make an early return to Birmingham City<\/a> after sustaining a groin injury while on international duty.<\/p>\n Gray was supposed to be playing for Jamaica against Curacao on Friday night but instead was heading back to the UK to have the problem assessed and for treatment.<\/p>\n The 29-year-old has started all nine Championship games<\/a> since returning to Birmingham<\/a> in the summer and scored his first goal of term in last week’s 2-2 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.<\/p>\n Jamaica lost a World Cup qualifier 2-0 in his absence in a shock result, putting them second in a group where only the winners will progress to next summer’s finals in the US, Canada and Mexico. Young Chelsea winger Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards had taken Gray’s place in the squad. Gray also pulled out of internationals in September.<\/p>\n Jamaica manager Steve McClaren told the Jamaica Gleaner: \u201cLosing Demarai was a big blow. He was one of our best players and he played really well for Birmingham, so we\u2019re really disappointed but it gives somebody else the opportunity to come in.”<\/p>\n Birmingham return to Championship action<\/a> next Saturday with a home game against Hull.<\/p>\n What’s your early verdict on Gray this year? Have your say here<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. Just click this link<\/a> to receive daily Blues content and breaking news. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. Click on the name at the top of your screen while in WhatsApp and click ‘Exit Group’. Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Everyday, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Birmingham City content.<\/p>\n Our dedicated reporters Alex Dicken and Brian Dick – you can follow Alex on X here<\/a> and Brian here<\/a> – follow Blues around the country and they offer you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.<\/p>\n So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur – that’s why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you’ll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. 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You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here<\/a> and via Apple here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Demarai Gray has been a fixture in Chris Davies’ team since returning to Birmingham City 12:56, 11 Oct…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,8372,55206,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-491294","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-chris-davies-football-coach","12":"tag-demarai-gray","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115356222181022262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}