Birmingham City could well look to the likes of Ipswich Town for inspiration moving forward, as Chris Davies’ money-rich side look to break out of League One as soon as possible to then potentially take the Championship by storm like the Tractor Boys.
Before anyone gets too carried away, however, the Blues will have to get out of the tricky third tier first, with the major backing they’ve received in the last transfer market certainly helping them to try and reach that goal.
That was typified by Jay Stansfield’s move, joining the ever-growing group at St. Andrew’s on transfer deadline day for a mammoth £20m fee.
However, it’s not as if Birmingham haven’t had expensive strikers in the past – when they were still competing in the Premier League year in year out – with Emile Heskey of yesteryear sticking out.
Emile Heskey’s time at Birmingham
Joining the Blues back in 2004 from Liverpool, Heskey would be a hit with the St. Andrew’s fanbase at the start of his two-year stay.
The former England international fired home ten Premier League goals during his first full season donning Birmingham blue, an amount that Stansfield will hope he can eclipse in League One on the way to Davies’ men returning to the Championship in style.
After that electric first campaign, however, Heskey’s goalscoring powers in the West Midlands would start to wane, with only four league goals coming his way during the 2005/06 season.
Only managing one goal from his final 13 appearances for Birmingham, the Blues would then decide to sell Heskey to Wigan Athletic in 2006, to try and make back some money before he declined in ability further.
Selling him on for £6.7m at the time saw the Blues take somewhat of a hit, but by today’s inflated standards when looking at the TotallyMoney Transfer Index, the then Premier League club played a blinder.
Heskey’s transfer value in the modern market
If the same move was to happen now, Heskey would remarkably be sold on for more than Stansfield’s £20m price tag.
Indeed, Birmingham would pocket a hefty sum of £23.3m if that same transaction took place in 2024, as per the Transfer Index, with the Blues swimming in cash in a rather smug manner.
In truth, Heskey struggled to consistently find his shooting boots again when lining up for the Latics and for the many other clubs he played for past his bright spell at St. Andrew’s, amassing just eight top-flight strikes during his debut season in Greater Manchester.
Heskey’s goalscoring record after leaving | ||
|---|---|---|
Club played for | Games | Goals |
Wigan | 88 | 15 |
Aston Villa | 110 | 14 |
Newcastle Jets | 41 | 10 |
Bolton Wanderers | 49 | 3 |
Sourced by Transfermarkt | ||
His goal output dried up more and more as his career began to wind down, with a meagre three goals registered for Bolton Wanderers from 49 games towards the very end of his playing days which led to Heskey hanging up his boots.
Birmingham will hope Stansfield can keep up his reputation as a goal machine at St. Andrew’s, away from Heskey’s late career woes, knowing what he is capable of already with 12 strikes managed last campaign for the Blues on loan, even as the former Premier League titans fell victim to relegation down to League One.
Fulham will no doubt have been gutted to lose their academy product, but with a wild £20m bid coming their way, Marco Silva’s men would have been foolish not to cash in and act on Birmingham’s impulsive spending habits.
This could prove to be a lavish purchase that pays off, however, with the new Blues striker perhaps seeing his value soar above Heskey’s new £23m price tag over time.
