This will be an important pre-season for Birmingham as Garry Monk prepares for his first season in charge.

Monk came in and saved the Blues from relegation last season with five wins in 11 games. The aim this season will be to bring some stability to the club after three managers in one season as well as relegation dogfights in consecutive seasons. Therefore, there shouldn't be too high expectations on Monk with a promotion push being an added bonus.

His few months at the club mean that pre-season will be an important assessment of the squad to confirm or change his decisions on the future of certain players.

Here are three players that will need a good summer to stay at the club...

Kuszczak was back-up to David Stockdale last season, although he did make 10 league appearances when Steve Cotterill came in. However, injuries ended that and he is unlikely to usurp Stockdale. There have been rumours of Stockdale leaving in the summer, but Alex Smithies is reportedly a target as a replacement.

Therefore, he isn't seen as first-choice material by Monk, so he is likely to leave unless he impresses in pre-season because he adds little to the team and only has a few seasons left in him at 36-years-old.

Stewart has been at the club since 2016, but was sent out on loan after failing to impress Harry Redknapp. He made 22 appearances in his first season, but failed to find the net after struggling to deal with the transition to the Championship from Scottish football.

This summer is likely to be his only chance to impress Monk because he doesn't have the benefit of being at the club when Monk joined unlike many of the others. The Blues do have serious goalscoring issues, but his numbers with Birmingham suggest that he isn't the man to change that going forwards. Therefore, a permanent move away is likely.

N'Doye only made one full appearance under Monk, although he was used as a substitute seven times. This suggests that he isn't seen as a starter even though he was used heavily by Redknapp and Cotterill.

Craig Gardner, David Davis and Maikel Kieftenbeld are all competing with him for first-team places. He also has age going against him because he's likely to be past his peak at 32-years-old, so he's only a short-term option for the club. Therefore, a strong pre-season is key in proving to Monk that he does deserve a place in the squad.