Birmingham City are reportedly ready to offer the Blues £3 million for keeper Bartosz Bialkowski and Town may make a loan move for Bolton’s Ben Amos as his replacement.

Birmingham’s interest in Bialkowski first emerged on Friday and, according to The Sun on Sunday, the Midlanders are willing to make a £3 million bid for the Polish international.

While it would be a hugely unpopular move with fans, Town may well be prepared to take an offer of around that size for the 31-year-old rather than risk losing one of their most highly-prized assets on a free transfer next summer.

Bialkowski is contracted to the Blues until the end of June 2019, the club having exercised the option for a further year on his contract at the end of last season.

But the former Southampton and Notts County man is still to put pen to paper on the new deal ex-boss Mick McCarthy said had been agreed in January.

Speaking in April, Bialkowski said his agent was continuing to talk to owner Marcus Evans regarding the new terms.

The Sun claims Town could look to replace Bialkowski, the club’s Player of the Year for the last three seasons, with Amos, 28.

The 6ft 3in tall former Crewe Alexandra and Manchester United trainee spent last season on loan with Charlton in League One where he was ever-present, making 50 starts.

Macclesfield-born Amos made seven senior appearances for the Red Devils while at Old Trafford but spent much of his time out on loan, featuring for Peterborough, Molde, Oldham, Hull City, Carlisle and Bolton before making his switch to the Trotters permanent in 2015 when he signed a four-year deal.

However, having dropped to second choice at the Macron Stadium, he joined Cardiff on loan for 2016/17 - making 16 starts - and then the Addicks last season.

Despite not having played for Bolton for two years and appearing to be out of their long-term plans, Amos, who was linked with Millwall last month, went on their pre-season training camp in Scotland.

“Ben’s with the first team now and we’ll see what happens, whether a club comes in for him,” manager Phil Parkinson told The Bolton News.

“You can see he had a good year with Charlton. He came back and worked very hard with [goalkeeper-coach] Lee [Butler] and the other keepers so you really don’t know what might happen.

“There have been one or two enquiries but I think his confidence has been helped enormously.”

On Friday, Scottish reports linked with the Blues with Wes Foderingham, who is set to depart Rangers this summer, and it is believed Town have made preliminary contact regarding the 27-year-old, who is also viewed as a possible replacement should Bialkowski move on.

Summer interest in Bialkowski, who is currently away having been given time off following the World Cup, had been widely expected due to his contract situation and with Crystal Palace having targeted him in January.

Elsewhere in Sunday's papers, AFC Bournemouth are reported to be willing to offload former Blues left-back Tyrone Mings to Nottingham Forest after an injury-hit three years with the Cherries.

Mings, 25, has made 11 starts and four sub appearances - four starts and one sub appearance last season - since moving to Dean Court for an initial £8 million in June 2015.

Photos: TWTD/Action Images

jpring89 added 10:06 - Jul 8 No thanks
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Currie10 added 10:14 - Jul 8 We're goingggg down we're goinggggg down we're going We are going down. Semi joking aside - we're 22nd favs with the bookies............ This would absolutely make me want to cry my eyes out. How in gods name can we compete if we sell our best assets every single year then hunt for bargains!?
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Burwell_Blue added 10:14 - Jul 8 Sounds good. Fans fed up with norm but not happy to let the old guard go to finance improvements. No pleasing some people.
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wessextractorboy added 10:16 - Jul 8 Absolute madness. Maybe a shock tactic to get Bart to sign on the dotted line. Who would want to do a less than sideways step in the championship. Wouldn't help his international prospects.
4

Josh271092 added 10:17 - Jul 8 Is it April 1st? £3m?
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dukey44 added 10:17 - Jul 8 Birmingham?? Surprised Forest haven't bid for him cause for some reason their bank balance doesn't matter? Surely he's worth more than £3 million??
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frankietheman12 added 10:18 - Jul 8 At the end of the day playing for the badge on the shirt is the most important thing and if Bart isn't willing to play hursts way then we have no choice but to let him go
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TractorCam added 10:19 - Jul 8 £3 million and Ben Amos as a replacement? Very funny!
8

Monkey_Blue added 10:20 - Jul 8 I'd rather lose him for nothing and keep him here for the season. The points he's saved and won for us the last three seasons have been invaluable and certainly worth more than £3m for a season which could be either a struggle to stay up or possibly the dawn of a brighter future. If we are doing well before Xmas I suspect he would sign an extension. To move to Birmingham also makes no sense career wise. It's sideways and he and his family love the area. I suspect even if the clubs agree Bart may say no anyway.

24

hadleighboyblue added 10:21 - Jul 8 If he moves it should be to a better club than Birmingham . would be very disappointing if that happened . If he goes why would we replace him with a loan - that makes no sense at all
12

GiveusaWave added 10:24 - Jul 8 The club should be very careful in their decision making right now...or else we will be playing league 1 football next season.
1

Monkey_Blue added 10:25 - Jul 8 frankietheman- what are you talking about? Who has suggested he isn't prepared to play Hurst's way? What a ridiculous comment. I suspect Hurst's way is “Stop the ball going in the net”. If you are just making idiotic comments on purpose get a life and if you aren't when does your 6 weeks holidays start?
13

Sir_Bob added 10:26 - Jul 8 If he refuses to stay, what can the club do? It's hard to turn down £3m even if he is worth more. He's 31, and about to sign the last decent contract of his playing career. If he's going to get 2, 3, 4 times more elsewhere, then it's a no brainer for him. It'll be a very sad day to see him go.
17

Northstander_Blue added 10:26 - Jul 8 Birmingham surely not that would be such a side ways step
3

itfcserbia added 10:27 - Jul 8 We have to sell Bart, surely if he wanted to sign the new deal that would be done by now. Better to cash in at least something than to have him leave for nothing next summer.
1

peteswindon added 10:27 - Jul 8 what a flipping joke
1

Monkey_Blue added 10:31 - Jul 8 Currie10- indeed, who could see our best assets sold every year and still Male us competitive. Not that I'm knocking Hurst at all, but MM had to put up with it and 3 of his 5 seasons included saving us comfortably from relegation, a play off place, 7th, and two comfortable mid table finishes. I wasn't happy with us selling Webster, but to sell Bart on top would be suicidal unless we got stupid money and I mean £8-£10m.

4

christiand added 10:32 - Jul 8 No problem if Bart wants to leave, however we deserve to get a decent fee for him and I'm sorry Ben Amos, really as a possible replacement?! The club have done plenty of good things over the last couple of months, don't suddenly now resort to type on such an important player and position in the side.
6

DublinBlue84 added 10:41 - Jul 8 If this happens I'll be cancelling my Direct Debit and not going back for a very long time.
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blueoxford added 10:41 - Jul 8 We cannot let this run into next season. If he is refusing to sign and with a year left on his contract £3m is probably about right. But from Bart's side, why Birmingham? Surely it's a move to a Premier side by end of July or sign a new contract with Town?
5

TonyHumesIpswich added 10:48 - Jul 8 If this happens we will have sold/released 18 players and brought in 2. And we struggled with small squad size last season lol Anyone else think we might be struggling to get a team out next season?
0

Devereuxxx added 10:50 - Jul 8 Should be £3 million for every year he's been our Player of the Year. A move to a championship side doesn't really make sense for him though, unless they are going to give him a shedload of cash. Birmingham especially are a basketcase club, not that appealing.
6

martin587 added 10:51 - Jul 8 The question is "Why hasn't he signed a further contract"?Is it just money,if so have the club offered him a much improved contract.If not then he or his agent should be setting there sights much higher,because with respect Birmingham in my eyes is not progression. If the paper talk is true with the quote of 3 million that is a give away price.Keepers play for much longer than outfield players so he should have at least 4-5 years left so a fee in the region of 5-6 million is more justifiable don't you think. In any case we don't want a loan keeper as they are the backbone of any team and you need stability not just somebody who is happy to take a wage and without full commitment to the club. Anyway let's just all wait and see what happens over the next few weeks as I'm sure there will be plenty more rumers and coming and goings at the club.COME ON ENGLAND.🇬🇧

3

BlueBlood90 added 10:52 - Jul 8 I'd lose a lot of respect for Bart if he moved there. He absolutely deserves to leave for a bigger and better club but Birmingham would be such a sideways step and purely money motivated.
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StowTractorBoy added 10:54 - Jul 8 It would appear on the face of it that Bart does not want to stay and was a big fan of McCarthy so not surprised he could be off. He has had months to make up his mind whether to stay or go so if he is not happy then its a must sell. A £3m fee does seem a bit low though in this day and age and I'm certainly not endeared to the thought of Ben Amos but hey ho I'll support whoever the replacement is. I have also heard that Barts wife loves it around here so 'Birmingham' that will be an eye opener for her. Can't see Bart going there but stranger things have happened and money talks.

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