Birmingham City have been blessed with a number of top talents coming through their academy over recent years, away from the star-studded quality at Chris Davies’ disposal currently in League One.
Jordan James was the latest breakout star from the Blues youth structure when he departed for Rennes this summer, costing the Ligue 1 club a sizeable £4m to pick up, after he had exploded into life for his boyhood club from the middle of the park.
Of course, there is a more notable midfield ace who used to call Birmingham his home as a starlet learning the ropes before a major move took place, in the form of Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham.
Bellingham's time with Birmingham
Before all of that occurred for the former Blues youngster, Bellingham was the cream of the crop for the EFL club when it came to top homegrown prodigies rising up the ranks, with the then-teenager making his Birmingham debut back in 2019 at just 16 years of age.
The rest is obviously now history, with Bellingham going on to tally up four goals and two assists from 44 first-team appearances at St. Andrew’s, before leaving his boyhood side behind for Borussia Dortmund only a season into his men’s team development.
At least Birmingham managed to salvage back some pretty pennies from Bellingham’s sad departure though, which even saw the club retire his number 22 jersey, with Dortmund paying up a hefty fee around the £25m ballpark.
Now, the 21-year-old has reached unbelievable heights at the Santiago Bernabeu to fully justify Birmingham’s decision to set aside his number 22 strip, with a sublime 23 goals and 16 assists next to his name now from 52 clashes in Spain.
He would also become a national treasure this summer at the Euros for England by scoring this dramatic overhead kick, further cementing himself as a world-beater away from being adored in Madrid and the West Midlands.
Birmingham haven’t always been so fortunate in raking in lots of money off the back of selling some of their top academy products, however, with this low sale in 2013 no doubt irking those looking back.
Nathan Redmond's time at Birmingham
Nathan Redmond was arguably the original Bellingham before the teenager left his mark on proceedings at St. Andrew’s, having also been launched into the first team set-up from a young age.
He too made his debut in the men’s fold at the tender age of 16 in 2010, before going on to become a regular under the likes of Lee Clark in the Birmingham dug-out.
Player
Age when making debut
1. Jude Bellingham
16 years, 1 month + 8 days
2. Jobe Bellingham
16 years, 3 months + 16 days
3. Nathan Redmond
16 years, 5 months + 20 days
4. Jordan Mutch
16 years, 8 months + 24 days
5. Romolle Donovan
16 years, 10 months + 25 days
In illustrious company in the table above with the well-known Bellingham brothers, Redmond would go on to make far more appearances at St. Andrew’s than the now La Liga star managed, with an impressive nine goals and 11 assists notched up from 82 overall games.
You would think that would result in a club having to break the bank to land Redmond’s services, therefore, but in the wake of Birmingham’s disappointing 12th placed finish in the Championship during the 2012/13 campaign, top-flight Norwich City swooped in to land him for a cut price.
The Canaries would land the pacey winger from Clark and co for only £3m, with the Birmingham-born attacker going to become a Premier League regular for both Norwich and then Southampton for many seasons, amassing 276 Premier League appearances mainly donning a Saints strip.
The Blues must wish now that they had driven a harder bargain, but will strive to find their next Bellingham and Redmond in the here and now, with St Andrew’s obviously fertile ground for youngsters to prosper from.
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