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<\/p>\nBirmingham City are trying to harness the talents of Brighton loanee Ibrahim Osman in the Championship<\/p>\n
06:00, 18 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
![\"Birmingham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_Ibrahim-Osman.jpg\")
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Birmingham City are helping to develop Brighton starlet Ibrahim Osman<\/p>\n
Chris Davies spent the first five minutes of Saturday\u2019s draw with Sheffield United<\/a> bellowing instructions at Ibrahim Osman.<\/a><\/p>\n The Birmingham City<\/a> manager wants his wingers to arrive in the box and Osman was clearly a yard or two out of position.<\/p>\n Then, in the blink of an eye, Osman showed exactly why Davies picked him ahead of Demarai Gray.<\/a><\/p>\n He collected a first-time pass from Marvin Ducksch, shifted the ball beyond Femi Seriki and lashed a shot against the post.<\/p>\n Osman would later force a challenge from Seriki that would earn him a red card<\/a> and give Blues a numerical advantage that they couldn\u2019t capitalise on.<\/p>\n One criticism of Blues under Davies<\/a> is that they can sometimes appear too structured and risk averse. Osman was signed in January to provide an unpredictable element and, when Blues are attacking at least, Davies is quite happy for him to show off his individuality.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really interesting when you think of players like that and the balance between the team\u2019s structure and their own individual profile,\u201d says Davies.<\/p>\n \u201cI think his almost unorthodox ability\u2026 I don\u2019t want to touch that. The way he receives the ball, the way he will try and turn, the way he uses his body, it looks scruffy but when you\u2019re doing it all the time it\u2019s not by accident.<\/p>\n \u201cI really like that about him. I don\u2019t want to over-coach him so he\u2019s not got this attacking spirit because he wants to turn, he wants to run at players and take them on and I don\u2019t want to lose that. You can almost coach them too much and they think about keeping the ball.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want him to take a risk. He will trip over and they will tackle him and it won\u2019t look perfect every time, but if you\u2019re a full-back going into a game against him, knowing the pace and unpredictability he\u2019s got, it would be quite unnerving.<\/p>\n \u201cMy job is to guide him into the structure of the team and how he can use his best qualities, then a lot of it is defensively, there is no room for manoeuvre there. It\u2019s this is your job, this is what you need to do and this is where you need to be and he has to buy into all of that.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has done that better than I even first gave him credit for. For example, if he has to jump up to a midfielder who has given them a line of three to build-up, he will jump up and know why he\u2019s doing it. That\u2019s been really impressive.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wants to press, hence his goal against Leicester. Let him be. Let him use his individual qualities because there is something different about him that not many have got at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n OPINION<\/p>\n OPINION<\/p>\n There have been lapses in concentration on the defensive front. Some would say Osman wasn\u2019t tight enough to Abdul Fatawu when the Leicester City winger lashed home at St Andrew\u2019s last month. And there is no denying that he switched off when Femi Azeez\u2019s long range free-kick struck the post for Millwall, allowing Tristan Crama to score unchallenged on the rebound.<\/p>\n But his shortcomings are countered by his ability to get bums off seats.<\/p>\n There were times last season, when Blues kept coming up against low blocks in League One, where Davies craved \u2018chaos\u2019 from his wingers.<\/p>\n Osman, more so than Gray, Patrick Roberts and Carlos Vicente, is that in a nutshell.<\/p>\n Davies added: \u201cHe does create chaos because he attracts people to him. It\u2019s just the pace. With him, when he gets away he\u2019s away, even against (Kayne) Ramsay at Charlton \u2013 not many go past him. He\u2019s always done well against us. (Osman) got away from him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s as quick as any winger at this level, which is his greatest asset, so how can we use that.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can be too perfect around the box, it\u2019s sometimes that chaotic nature that actually creates mini transitions when you lose the ball and get it back again, that can be crucial.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking risks is in his nature and it\u2019s my job to have the discipline as a coach not to coach that out of him.\u201d<\/p>\n Ibrahim Osman of Birmingham City<\/p>\n Brighton shelled out \u00a316million to sign the Ghana international from Nordsj\u00e6lland two years ago and they rarely get transfers wrong.<\/p>\n Osman undeniably has Premier League potential but the 21-year-old is still rough around the edges.<\/p>\n You only need to watch highlights of Blues\u2019 FA Cup<\/a> exit to Leeds United to see Osman can be irresistible and erratic almost in the same breath.<\/p>\n The final action hasn\u2019t always been precise, hence why he only has one goal and one assist to his name in 10 appearances for Blues, but Davies believes that refinement will come.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will 100 percent with him,\u201d he predicts. \u201cHe\u2019s diligent, very focused, and very professional. He will mature in that sense and grow as a player.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the key to his game will always be one-v-one skills and pace. He has Premier League pace \u2013 he is that quick.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re never quite sure when they come in and he is quiet. The loan move in France didn\u2019t go too well and he really wanted to make an impact, and I think he\u2019s proven and shown that he can be a real threat at this level.<\/p>\n \u201cConsistency is the ultimate test for all the young players. Can they keep producing it? He\u2019s got to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n If he does that, Osman won\u2019t just have Premier League pace \u2013 he will be a Premier League player.<\/p>\n 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City are trying to harness the talents of Brighton loanee Ibrahim Osman in the Championship 06:00, 18…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,66676,748,393,4884,212619,11653,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-833737","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-brighton-hove-albion-fc","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-ibrahim-osman","15":"tag-premium","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116249620094840527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833737","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=833737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_JS399928544.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Author](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_JS186248780.jpg\")
Alex Dicken![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_JS399928288.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\nAlex Dicken<\/p>\n![\"Ibrahim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_JS399920248.jpg\")
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