Birmingham City lead Sheffield Wednesday in the race to sign Oxford United loanee James Beadle ahead of the January window, according to a report from The Star.
The 19-year-old joined Oxford United during the summer transfer window and recently was named as the club’s player of the month for November, but is attracting fierce interest as the January window continues to loom.
Beadle has made 24 appearances in all competitions for Oxford United so far this season, keeping nine clean sheets thus far including seven in League One alone after arriving on loan from Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion.
The shot-stopper began his youth career with Charlton Athletic before arriving at Brighton in January 2022. He spent the back end of last season on loan at Crewe Alexandra before joining Oxford United on a season-long loan deal in the summer.
Birmingham City are set to allow goalkeeper Neil Etheridge to depart the club in January as a way of saving money due to him being a high-earner. Similarly, Sheffield Wednesday have seen an improvement in their form but still need reinforcements if they are going to avoid relegation down to League One.
According to The Star, there has been talk of Brighton Hove Albion potentially recalling Beadle and moving him onto a new club during the January transfer window. This would be a huge loss to Oxford United due to the shot-stopper playing every minute of the club’s promotion push this season, but whether those reports from the Seagulls are true or false remains to be seen.
Writer’s View
Beadle is a talented young goalkeeper who is already involved in the England youth setup and therefore it is no surprise that there have already been talks of him moving up the pyramid.
Similarly, with Oxford United currently competing for promotion this season and with both Championship sides having established number ones, I would be shocked to see him recalled this summer.