Birmingham City are looking to solve their goalkeeping headache with the signing of Cardiff City stopper Neil Etheridge.  

Lee Camp has departed St Andrew’s after serving as Blues’ first choice goalkeeper over the last two seasons, with Aitor Karanka on the lookout for a fresh face to come in ahead of 2020/21.

As per Football Insider, there’s an interest in Etheridge at Cardiff, with the goalkeeper tumbling down the pecking order in South Wales under Neil Harris.

Quiz: Can you remember the score from each of these 12 Birmingham City matches from the 2019/20 season?

The report claims that the 30-year-old is keen on re-establishing himself at first-choice somewhere in the coming season, having lost his place with the Bluebirds to Alex Smithies.

Smithies was involved for Harris during the Championship run-in and helped the Bluebirds reach the play-offs after a tremendous late run.

He then retained the gloves against Fulham in the play-off semi-finals, but despite a host of good saves, he was unable to help Cardiff manoeuvre their way into the final.

Etheridge has made 102 appearances for Cardiff since linking up with the club in 2017 and made 45 appearances in 2017/18 as the Bluebirds won promotion to the Premier League.

The former Walsall man was then ever-present in the Premier League as Cardiff were relegated, before losing his place in the side after 16 Championship appearances in the season gone by.

The Verdict  

Etheridge would be a good signing for Birmingham this summer.

He’s a top goalkeeper at this level and was unlucky to lose his place at Cardiff to another very good goalkeeper in Smithies.

In many ways, his spell at Cardiff has been a huge success with a promotion and a year in the Premier League, so Birmingham would surely be delighted to get their hands on him.

It would more than justify Karanka’s decision to look for a new goalkeeper.

Thoughts? Let us know!