Birmingham City manager Aitor Karanka has insisted that if Alen Halilović keeps up his performance levels, he would like to keep him at the club for next season, but he admitted he should be at a bigger club.

Halilović’s time at Birmingham has taken a while to get going since he arrived on a deal until the end of the season back in November.

The talented attacking midfielder, who has had spells with the likes of Barcelona and AC Milan, was in a difficult period in his career when he arrived at St Andrews. He has managed just eight appearances and two starts in the Championship so far (Sofascore).

However, he came off the bench in the 63rd minute against QPR on Saturday and completely transformed the match in the Blues’ favour. The 24-year-old needs that now to be the start of something with him set to be out-of-contract again in the summer.

 

 

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, Karanka insisted that Halilović is the sort of player that should be playing at a much higher level, but that he only has himself to blame for being in the Championship at the moment. He revealed he would want to keep him for next term if he can maintain strong performance levels between now and the end of the season.

"If he can keep the same level I would like to keep him here but he has to keep the same level with and without the ball.

"Apart from the quality you need to work on the pitch, especially in this league. You can have a lot of quality and then when you work in the way you should work in this league and you are a quality player you can make the difference.

"He is an example. He was a completely different player against Luton because he was going to our box to take the ball when he is not dangerous in those positions, he didn’t fight as he has been fighting today.

"When he fights on the pitch there is not any doubt about his quality.

"I hope he isn’t going to be upset with me when I say that we had a meeting last Thursday and I was telling him that he if he hadn’t played in his last teams he couldn’t blame his managers, he had to blame himself.

"He is a top player and if he is not performing as well as he can perform and if he is not in a better league it is his fault, it is not the manager’s fault.

"He told me I was right and he showed me today he can do it. It is a shame to have that quality and to not be at a bigger club. For me it is a pleasure but for him it is a shame because he is much, much better."

The Verdict

Halilović is a player with exceptional natural ability as Karanka alluded to here, but his career has so far not gone in the direction that it should have done.

The Spaniard seems like he has managed to get through to him in recent weeks and managed to get him focused to prove a point out on the field and show his quality as he did against QPR.

The 24-year-old could well turn out to be Birmingham’s saviour this season if he can now go on a run of form and produce consistent quality between now and the end of the campaign.

The Blues need a spark and need something different, and they are lucky to possess someone with the quality of the attacking midfielder that could make a major difference at this stage of the season.

If he performs as he did against QPR, then Birmingham would be foolish not to do all they can to keep him for next season. However, the 24-year-old as Karanka suggests needs to earn that right by showing consistency and the fighting spirit that is needed. Hopefully, he can do that because his talent deserves to be expressed on the field.