Birmingham City head coach Chris Davies has given his players two weeks to prove themselves after they return to training on the 1st of July.
The former Tottenham Hotspur assistant was only appointed as the Blues’ new boss at the beginning of the month and has admitted that it will not take him long to make a decision on some of the players currently on the relegated side’s books.
The players are set to return for pre-season training at the beginning of next month and Davies is keen to give them a two-week window to prove themselves before he finalises his transfer strategy.
The first week will be spent training with their new coach, before jetting to Europe for a match against SC Paderborn in Austria.
Some players who are still in contract could be moved on, as Davies looks to build a squad capable of an immediate return to the second tier.
Birmingham City are still waiting on responses from John Ruddy and Lukas Jutkiewicz over potential new contracts as League One rival Charlton Athletic look to poach the former for their own squad.
“The training sessions will all be designed to really see out how they cope and get to know them personally as well.”
“I’ll have a real clear idea of what we have in the building after Austria and that will give me more clarity on what we need to bring in to add to that to make sure we’ve got a really robust squad moving forward.”
Can Birmingham City bounce straight back?
The Championship side are favourites for the League One title next season with a lot of pundits and bookmakers, however, after a difficult campaign and a brand new manager it could take some time for them to adapt to what is a competitive and difficult league.
Fellow relegated side Huddersfield Town and Rotherham United have already spent big this window and sides that narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship last season will be hoping to go again.
The ambitious duo of Wrexham and Stockport will also be hoping they can continue their upwards momentum after moving from non-league to League One in a number of years.
League One will not be as simple as it has been in some of the previous years. It will likely be a tight, competitive league with anyone capable of picking up points against anyone else.
For Davies he needs to get to grips with the side quickly, teams are already making moves and you can quickly find yourself targeting your 5th or 6th choice options as your main targets move elsewhere.
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