Birmingham City Attempt Hijack Of Charlton Athletic Star

Birmingham City have attempted to hijack the proposed move of Alfie May from Charlton Athletic to Huddersfield Town.

Reports emerged yesterday from Pete O’Rourke that a bid had been accepted by Charlton in the region of £750k for the goalscoring forward, however, this was later refuted by reliable Charlton Athletic journalist Richard Cawley.

Now, according to the former, Birmingham City have lodged a slightly higher bid of £775k to attempt to convince the Addicks to sell the league’s top scorer to them instead.

The 30-year-old only has one year left on his current deal with Charlton and it is likely to be seen as good business to secure a fee for him whilst his stock is still high. He was League One’s top scorer last season with 23 goals.

What is the truth of the situation?

Cawley is a well known Charlton Athletic journalist that has links to the club. His word holds a lot of weight, and if he refutes that a deal has been agreed then it is more likely to be the truth. However, O’Rourke has a track record of publishing insider information and will have been informed by a source of the amount. The truth is most likely that a deal was close between Huddersfield and Charlton, and one of the parties jumped the gun slightly to inform the press, perhaps to put pressure on the other side.

Birmingham City Set To Lose Star Man In Transfer Blow

The addition of Birmingham does complicate the matter slightly. If they are attempting to purchase the striker they have the ability to outbid Huddersfield, even though the Terriers do possess significant spending power for the level. The Blues are desperate for signings and have been linked to a whole host of names and if their £20 million budget is to be believed there are few that would be able to stop them.

With two big sides interested however, this will benefit Charlton as it is likely to start a bidding war, meaning they can demand a higher price for their star player.