Birmingham City are set to attempt to slash their wage budget significantly upon the completion of the takeover bid surrounding the club.

Businessman Paul Richardson and former Barcelona player Maxi Lopez are leading a consortium attempting to purchase the Blues.

The prospective owners are set to take a big step forward in their purchase of the club on Monday, with the Mirror also reporting on their immediate plans for the Championship side once the deal is completed.

Fringe players will be set for the chopping block, with the Blues having one of the more bloated wage bills in the second division.

This has been the source of a lot of the team’s struggles in recent years, so is being targeted as an area that needs to be fixed immediately.

The businessman duo have held talks with newly appointed head coach John Eustace, which went positively.

The likes of Neil Etheridge, Harlee Dean, Lukas Jutkiewicz and George Friend have been highlighted as potential older players who could be sold off in the remainder of the summer transfer window.

The goal will be to significantly lower the age of the squad as well as reducing the wage bill, with more loan deals also being targeted for further incomings in the next few weeks.

The Verdict

A new owner arriving in the middle of August will make doing transfer business a bit more tricky as there is so much structural upheaval that comes with this kind of change.

Eustace will need to have targets identified, but more importantly buyers will now need to be found for the aforementioned veteran players of the squad.

This will make it a transitional season for the Blues, with the ultimate goal for the year ahead now likely to be avoiding a relegation dogfight.

If all of these goals can be achieved in the next 12 months, then it could lay the foundation for a solid base going forward for Birmingham.