Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer has suggested that the door may no longer be open for midfielder Alen Halilovic to sign a new contract with the club.
Halilovic joined Birmingham on a deal until the summer of 2021 last November, having been a free agent following his departure from AC Milan.
The midfielder went on to score once in 17 league appearances for the Blues, and impressed with his performances, so much so that he was offered a new contract by the club at the end of the season.
However, no deal has yet been announced, and it seems Bowyer believes that the chances of such an agreement happening are dropping.
Speaking about the situation regarding Halilovic's future, the Blues boss told The Birmingham Mail: “I believe if a player wants to come to you and they want to play for the club – obviously the money side of it, they have got a short career, I understand that.
"But there comes a point where it’s tough times for everyone financially. Us, as a football club, we made a good offer, I think a fair offer.
"But I want people to come and play for us because they want to. ‘Yes, I want to play for Birmingham City’.“Then the money side should come second to a certain extent. If we offered him a silly contract I’d say ‘OK, fair enough’. But we didn’t. So would the door be open? I don’t know.”
Next season, Birmingham will be looking to improve on an 18th placed finish in the Championship, having only pulled themselves away from the relegation zone following Bowyer's arrival in March.
This will be something of a source of frustration for those associated with Birmingham you feel.
Halilovic was an impressive addition at times for the Blues last season, and he could have been a useful asset going forward as a result.
Now though, it seems as though Bowyer is not expecting the Croatian to be back at Birmingham next season, and while they will miss his talent, you can understand why the Blues boss may want to take that stance.
If Birmingham were to wait for a decision from Halilovic, then they risk being knocked back by him at the last minute, which could them leave them without enough time in the window to bring in a replacement, something which would put them in a rather tricky position heading into the new season.
