As Sheffield Wednesday look to trim their wage bill, the departure of Barry Bannan is seemingly inevitable.

The Owls are running close to breaching Financial Fair Play regulations, so offloading big earners is a necessity.

The Sheffield Star has reported that Birmingham City are tracking the midfielder they should be steering clear of.

The Scottish playmaker joined Wednesday in 2015 on a free transfer. Despite having struggled in the Premier League, he remains a quality Championship player.

His pass success percentage has been above 80% every season since joining, in which time he has produced 13 assists.

He would be an improvement on Birmingham’s current central midfield partnership of David Davis and Maikel Kieftenbeld.

Only once has either breached 80% since joining Birmingham over their combined seven seasons and they produced only three assists between them last season.

However, Birmingham are showing intent of reducing wages. Despite being number one for most of last season, David Stockdale has been told that he is surplus to requirements.

With second choice Tomasz Kuszczak in the twilight of his career, this is not purely for football reasons.

Signing Bannan would come with the weight of his wages that are inflated by his time in the Premier League.

There also remains the issue of Bannan’s time at Villa Park. His nine years there earned him no goodwill from City fans and the feeling is probably mutual.

The Scottish international may be a good player, but Garry Monk would find him an expensive and unpopular signing.