Pep Clotet issued a coy message when asked whether James Beattie and Ryan Needs would be leaving Birmingham City to reunite with former boss Garry Monk at Sheffield Wednesday.

The duo, along with Clotet, were part of the backroom team at St. Andrew's when Monk was in charge and the new Owls chief revealed last month he would be open to working with people he knows well again in Yorkshire.

Therefore, there has been speculation that Beattie and Needs would leave Blues, particularly as the former England international hasn't been taking warm-ups like he used to, whilst Needs has not been seen in his usual place on matchdays in his role as an analyst.

And, Birmingham Live reveal how Clotet told Radio WM the latest on the pair.

"These are individual decisions that they make individually, if they don’t want to work for this football club and they want to work for another football club - they need to be addressed.

"Speculation always comes up but at the end of the day it’s about how are we working the players and how we help the club go forward, that’s the only thing that we think about really. They are working for the club."

Assistant Paco Herrera, Craig Gardner and Xavi Calm have taken up more prominent roles in recent weeks.

The verdict

Despite Clotet's comments, looking from the outside it seems a matter of time before the duo leave for Sheffield Wednesday.

Otherwise, it makes no sense that they appear to have reduced roles on game days given they were important to Clotet prior to Monk taking over at Hillsborough.

If this does happen, Blues are best to get rid quickly, although it will present the boss with a problem as he seeks replacements.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

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