This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

FLW’s Birmingham City fan pundit Tom Oxland believes the signing of Dion Sanderson is a great deal for the club.

The defender is the first signing of the John Eustace reign in charge of the Championship club.

An agreement between the Blues and Wolves sees the centre back return on a season long loan, having previously joined the club on a temporary basis in the first half of the last campaign.

At the turn of the year, the 22-year old joined QPR but was unable to settle into a starting berth in Mark Warburton’s side on a consistent basis.

Oxland is delighted to see the youngster return to St. Andrew’s, and believes this is a really solid signing for the team. 

During his first time with the club, he played 15 league games as part of Lee Bowyer’s team.

But Bowyer has since been replaced as manager by Eustace.

The fan pundit believes that Sanderson’s return is a surprise, but a very welcome one.

“I’m personally very happy with the return of Dion Sanderson,” Oxland told Football League World.

“Sort of came out of nowhere, the rumours spiralled on the same day of the actual signing, still no one really expected it though.

“Certainly at the end of last season I would not have expected to see Sanderson in a blue shirt ever again.

“He had a really great first loan spell with the Blues. I was very impressed with him, he showed all the sorts of desirable traits you want in a young and hungry centre back.

“He certainly fit that Birmingham City mould, with his determination, desire.

“It didn’t quite work out for him at QPR, so I’m really glad that we were able to offer him another second chance to prove himself again.

“He showed what he can do at Blues so I think it’s a really good move for us and hopefully there’s more to come.”

 

 

New ownership and a new manager at Birmingham means this is a period of significant change at the club.

But Eustace will be looking to steer the team away from their 20th place finish earned last season.

The Verdict

Bringing Sanderson back is a solid move to win over the fanbase given he performed well in the team last time he was there.

But the team will need more defensive reinforcements given how many goals the team conceded last season.

Eustace has a big job on his hands, with the team benefiting greatly last year from two clubs receiving points deduction penalties which kept the team floating above the relegation battle.

Failure to take advantage of that by improving the squad this summer could see that come back to bite the club if they find themselves battling at the bottom again this season.