Midfielder Keshi Anderson’s contract was extended by Birmingham City on Saturday night, which also disclosed the team’s released and retained list.
This summer, Birmingham City will be aiming higher than the average League One players. Because of Knighthead’s financial clout, the Blues will maintain a healthy budget and be able to pay championship salaries even after the team is demoted to the third division.
For this reason, it came as no huge surprise when Jonson Clarke-Harris, a goal scorer in League One with ties to the Midlands, moved up north to join Rotherham United earlier this week.This summer, Blues can strive a little bit higher.
However, their team still lacks some League One experience and expertise, thus it was a wise move to extend Keshi Anderson’s contract by an additional year.
Although Anderson was mostly a starter for Gary Rowett and John Eustace the previous season, he did show enough talent to be given another year now that the team is in the third division. In the last few weeks of the season, he was able to keep both Siriki Dembele and Juninho Bacuna off the team because to his commitment to work for the team and his game intelligence.
Even if he only officially registered two assists and lost goals due to his tendency to shoot too late, it is obvious why it is important to maintain Anderson on the team. In comparison to the salaries that other players at the Blues have received recently, the 29-year-old is a skilled player on a quite modest contract.
He has also previously been promoted from League One. Anderson was a member of the Blackpool team that advanced to the Championship in 2021 through the play-offs. He kicked off their Wembley final victory, defeating Lincoln City 2-1.
After moving from Sunderland to the Blues in January, Alex Pritchard pretended to be dishonest, but he still has two years left on his deal to make amends. The 31-year-old midfielder is another player with a promotion from League One under their belt.
With four goals and nine assists in the regular season, Pritchard was a standout player for Sunderland in 2022–2023 before he helped the team overcome Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 under the arch to secure a spot in the Championship.
Another member of the Blues team has also destroyed League One in the past. However, considering how his first season at the Blues ended, it is unclear if Dembele will stay.
The 27-year-old lost his way halfway through the season and needs to put in some work to regain his position at Blues. Will a player be prepared to fall back again who believed he had left League One behind three years ago? He might need to.
To put it mildly, it is exciting to think that Dembele may be performing well in the third division. In 42 League One games, Dembele scored 11 goals and dishevelled 10 assists, helping Peterborough secure automatic promotion from the third division in 2020–21.
Although the Blues’ recruitment team has a busy summer ahead of them, some of the components for the promotion are already present in the building.
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