Birmingham City midfielder Jude Bellingham has taken to Twitter to bid farewell to David Stockdale, Cheick Keita, and Jefferson Montero after it was announced today the trio would be leaving the club at the end of next month.

The Blues confirmed today that Stockdale and Keita would be leaving when their contracts expire at the end of June, while the club would not be extending Montero's loan deal, which also runs out at the end of next month.

The trio are the latest player exits announced by the club after it was revealed last week that Jacques Maghoma and Jonathan Grounds would be leaving St Andrew's as free agents this summer.

Bellingham has taken to Twitter to bid farewell to Stockdale, Keita, and Montero.

It appears the teenager was particularly close with Stockdale as he dedicated a special message to the 34-year-old shot-stopper.

Having joined the club in 2017, Stockdale made 39 appearances in his debut season but has fallen out of favour since and spent the majority of the last few years out on loan.

Keita arrived in January 2017 but the left-back has not been given an opportunity in the first team since the 11 appearances he made in his first two terms with the Blues.

Montero joined from Swansea on a season-long loan in August but the winger's impact in the final third has been underwhelming – not scoring once and providing just one assist in 18 appearances for the club.

The 7 question Birmingham City Football Club quiz – Can you get all 7 correct? Have a go now!

 

 

The Verdict 

It's nice to see Bellingham bidding farewell to his teammates and it shows that his breakthrough year has not gone to his head.

Clearly, he was much closer to Stockdale than the others and felt it appropriate to pay homage to him in a separate tweet.

It seems very likely that Bellingham will be exiting St Andrew's himself at the end of this year, with a string of big European clubs reportedly interested.