Birmingham City have not missed out on many players this window, they have been unafraid to battle their former rivals in the Championship as well as pick up some of the top emerging talent from across Europe.
They have however, missed out on some, Jay Stansfield looks likely to stay at Fulham now, despite winning the club’s Player of the Year last year, and Belgian second tier goal scorer Goduine Koyalipou will also spend the 24/25 season elsewhere after CSKA Sofia picked up the player.
In June it was reported by De Telegraaf that the Blues were in the pursuit of £2 million defender Mike Eerdhuijzen from Sparta Rotterdam. The player even visited England to take a look at the club’s training ground and was offered a four-year deal to sign on at the club. However, the Birmingham Mail revealed in July that talks had broken down despite the move being “close” leaving the League One side to look elsewhere.
What’s been said about the Birmingham City move?
Mike Eerdhuijzen reveals to RTV Rijnmond some details behind the move, claiming he had learned lessons from the strange and intense experience.
“It is logical that they do not want to lose me,”
“It was up to the club and not really up to me.
“So much has happened with Birmingham. You want to forget about that. It was mentally tough. And then FC Twente quickly came around the corner.”
“I never say never, but I didn’t necessarily say yes to FC Twente either,”
“I did learn from Birmingham and don’t want to get hit again. Something so strange and intense had happened with Birmingham.
“I didn’t expect anything anymore. I was just busy playing football.”
The human element
It is easy in a transfer window to forget that the players that appear in these stories are humans, with lives and families and friends. It is clear that the experience surround the failed move to Birmingham impacted Eerdhuijzen immensely, being days away from potentially moving everything to a different country only to see it all collapse would have a profound impact on the hardest of souls. Both player and club now will be able to move on and plan for the upcoming season.