Birmingham City will be hoping to strengthen their squad this month as the Blues seek to improve drastically under Aitor Karanka during the second half of the campaign. 

A mixture of poor form in front of goal and at the back has been the team's downfall this term and for that reason we could well see a few new faces being added to the club's ranks before the month is out.

The club of course did strengthen between transfer windows this term by bringing in Alen Halilovic in what was an eye opening free transfer, with the Croat still very much finding his feet in the Championship right now.

Whilst more recently Karanka's side have been linked with a move for Huddersfield's Alex Pritchard along with their league rivals Bristol City, Derby County and QPR.

16 questions about Aitor Karanka that Birmingham City fans may struggle to get correct – Can you get full marks?

Here, we take a look at TWO realistic scenarios that Birmingham City won't want to see happen in the next two weeks of the transfer window...

They won't want Toral's contract to wind down 

Jon Toral returned to St. Andrew's during the previous summer and has appeared to be a shrewd signing for the Blues so far, albeit going missing in a few games.

Given that he was signed on an initial one year contract with the option of extending it by 12 months, many will hope that the club take this up to avoid losing the Spaniard on a free come the end of his current deal.

Having nailed down a starting spot in the number ten position, surely the Midlands club will be keen to reward the player for his improving form.

Given that it is January and Toral has just six months remaining on his contract, he is now free to negotiate with clubs abroad, which means that Birmingham could already have a fight on their hands to keep the 25-year-old.

They won't want Clarke-Salter to be recalled 

The Chelsea loanee has once again moved to St. Andrews this term and has provided a good option at the heart of the backline for Karanka when fit and available.

Currently out of favour due to the form of both Mikel San Jose and Harlee Dean, Clarke-Salter has been previously been linked with a loan move to Sheffield Wednesday, potentially meaning that Chelsea could look to recall the player this month if he continues to find regular game time hard to come by.

Despite largely failing to build on the strong form he showed for the Blues last term, the 23-year-old is still an important member of the wider Birmingham squad and provides an able deputy when their more senior options in that position pick up injuries.

Therefore Karanka will be hopeful of holding onto the player until at least the end of his loan spell in order to have adequate cover for his backline.