Birmingham City would have needed to fork out $4.5m if they had wanted to sign former loanee Riley McGree from MLS outfit Charlotte, with Technical Director Craig Gardner revealing this in a meeting with supporters and the media.

The 23-year-old didn't play a single minute in the Blues' first nine league games of the 2021/22 campaign, but became an influential player during the latter stages of his second loan spell at the club as one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Although goals against Swansea and Bristol City made people sit up and take notice of his performance, his best display perhaps came in his penultimate game for the West Midlands outfit against Cardiff.

That day, he recorded two assists, supplying Troy Deeney for his first before showing his speed as he ran down the left channel and set up a reasonably easy finish for Ivan Sunjic, shining for the Blues in an advanced midfield position and providing that link between the midfield and attack.

However, his loan spell ended earlier this month, with the intention of MLS side Charlotte utilising him for their 2022 season on the other side of the Atlantic.

After seeing him impress, many Birmingham fans wanted to see him return to St Andrew's, but were left heartbroken as they decided not to pursue a permanent agreement with Middlesbrough taking advantage and bringing him to the Riverside.

Speaking more about why the Blues didn't strike a permanent agreement for his services, Gardner said to Birmingham Live: "Bear in mind Riley wasn’t in the squad at the start of the season when we had a fully fit team, he started to get into the squad when players started to get injured. Riley started to pick up his performance, he played 4-5 games where you go ‘OK, yeah’.

"For me to be put on the spot and get quoted $4.5million to take a kid that has only played four or five games, I am sorry, it is not happening.

"If he could have been in at the start, scored 6, 8, ten goals, he might go and do it, I really hope he does because he’s a great lad. Fair play to him but I can’t take that gamble."

The Verdict:

$4.5m is around £3.3m, which would have been a steal for Birmingham had they been willing to fork out that sum for a talented player who is only going to get better at the age of 23.

However, the club may have also needed to actively push more players out of the door at St Andrew's if they had come to an agreement regarding a permanent deal - because they were already looking to get some of their highest earners off the books before this month.

They probably would have needed to conclude this deal before the start of this month considering the likes of Celtic and Boro were obviously lurking, which would have created a bidding war that Birmingham wouldn't have been likely to win.

The one good thing that came from not pushing for this deal was the fact they were able to focus on signing a replacement quickly, something they did with Taylor Richards arriving on a loan deal from Brighton and Hove Albion.

And after already completing some shrewd business during this winter window with the likes of Richards and Teden Mengi coming in, you would certainly back Bowyer's men to thrive without McGree at their disposal, although he's likely to go on and do well on Teesside.