Birmingham City were agonisingly close to an opening-day win in the Championship.
If it wasn’t for George Hirst’s last-gasp penalty breaking Blues hearts, Chris Davies’ men would have secured a dream 1-0 victory. The second-tier newcomers won’t beat themselves up too much about this late collapse, though, as they try to clinch their first three points of the season away at Blackburn Rovers this coming Saturday instead.
The reigning League One champions will be backed by a sell-out away following at Ewood Park, with the expectant Birmingham masses also hopeful that Demarai Gray can put in some stellar performances moving forward to guide Davies and Co. up the league standings.
Gray’s standout return to Birmingham
The 29-year-old winger has returned to home soil far wiser than his initial Blues spell and more well-versed in what it takes to be a success at the highest level.
Indeed, Gray has managed to forge a memorable career for himself at the pinnacle of English football, with the Jamaica international picking up a hefty 19 goals and 14 assists from 200 Premier League appearances, which even saw him lift the top-flight title aloft with Leicester City.
The concerns start to mount, however, when weighing up whether Gray can get back to these impressive levels once more, having struggled to get going on the books of his last employers in Al-Ettifaq.
An unremarkable tally of four goals and five assists would come his way plying his trade in the Middle East, with his final season in the Saudi Pro League seeing him pick him just one meagre assist for his troubles from 25 outings.
If he fails to roll back the years, the worry will be that it was just a rash waste of money, as the 29-year-old also failed to spark into life at St. Andrew’s against Ipswich Town when completing zero successful dribbles.
Davies and Co. could be about to land a far better signing than hoping Gray comes good, which is doused heavily in nostalgia.
Why £1.3m star would be a better signing than Gray
After all, the last thing Birmingham fans will want to see is Gray tarnish his legacy by failing to live up to his hype.
Instead of solely relying on the ageing forward to deliver moments of magic down either flank, therefore, Birmingham could look to sign Montpellier attacker Tanguy Coulibaly to enhance their options on both channels.
Unlike Gray, the 24-year-old – who is being tipped to potentially make the switch to St Andrew’s – has continued to show off his class in some top divisions over the past couple of seasons, having fired home three goals last campaign for Montpellier even as the sorrow of relegation struck Stade de la Mosson.
On top of that, the “very gifted” forward – as he was dubbed by Stuttgart sporting director Sven Mislintat during his stay in the Bundesliga – has six goals and three assists next to his name in the German top-flight for his former side.
|
Coulibaly – Ligue 1 & Bundesliga stats |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Games |
Goals/Assists |
|
24/25 |
25 |
3 |
|
23/24 |
16 |
2 |
|
22/23 |
14 |
4 |
|
21/22 |
21 |
2 |
|
20/21 |
31 |
3 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
||
He should be able to take to the harsh waters of the Championship well, therefore, having already shown some fortitude to bounce back from being discarded by Paris St. Germain as a youngster, to now be seen as an exciting, first-team option in both Germany and his native France.
On the contrary, Gray might well have had his moment in the spotlight, with the decline there for all to see based on his poor form in Saudi Arabia.
Coulibaly joining for just £1m, as per his Football Transfers valuation, could go down as a fantastic steal, on the other hand, particularly if the former Stuttgart attacker can spur Birmingham on to shine in the tougher division.
