Birmingham City are hoping to sign defender Danny Batth on loan from Stoke City before tomorrow's domestic transfer deadline.

Aitor Karanka has had a solid start to life as Blues boss, with the team keeping two clean sheets and conceding just two goals since he took over.

Despite that, the Spaniard clearly feels he needs more depth at the back after TEAMtalk revealed that he wants to bring Batth to St. Andrew's on a temporary basis.

The update claims that talks have already taken place between the clubs and that the Potters are open to sanctioning a loan switch for the 30-year-old.

Batth played the first two league games of the season under Michael O'Neill but he lost his place after a 2-0 defeat at home to Bristol City - and he hasn't featured for a minute in the four fixtures since.

So, the centre-back may feel he needs to move to get game time, although he will find it tough to dislodge Harlee Dean and George Friend after Birmingham's strong start to the campaign.

If the move does happen, Batth could be involved against Sheffield Wednesday this weekend.

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The verdict

This would be a strange move as Batth is still involved with Stoke and an injury to a centre-back could see him back in the XI, whilst he's not guaranteed minutes at Blues.

However, he is a decent player at this level so if he did make the move then Karanka would be getting someone who he can rely on moving forward.

Clearly, the interest is there and it will be intriguing to see if this can get finalised before tomorrow's deadline.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.