Birmingham City have had a rough patch in the Championship of late that has seen them drop from a promotion candidate to a relegation scrapper.

The Blues were relegated from the Premier League and since then, they have struggled to really make an impact on the promotion chasing spots.

Gary Rowett took the reigns and Birmingham looked like real candidates for the top six, and they were in 8th until his surprise sacking.

Birmingham plummeted down the table and only narrowly avoided relegation that season.

Since then, the club become a standard Championship team, fluctuating between the mid-table and relegation spots.

A lot of the time, Birmingham can’t afford to splash money on the same talents that some of the bigger clubs have, so signing academy players is the most feasible of means.

Here, we look at the top three players that could make the step up from the academy to the first team and have a significant impact.

Do you agree, or have you spotted someone with better potential? Let us know in the comments section below.

Odin Bailey joined the Birmingham academy as an under-7, and looks like he is nearly ready to step up to the first team setup.

The skillful attacking midfielder agreed his first professional contract in 2016, when he was still at school, and Garry Monk will certainly have his eye on his developments.

Beryly Lubala is a regular for the under-23’s side and feels like he could be a player who could be promoted to the first team to help Monk’s side turn draws into wins off the bench.

The 19-year-old is a versatile attacker that was born in Congo, but was spotted by the Blues when excelling in a trial game in Leicester in 2014.

Connal Trueman is the goalkeeper that has earned a spot on the bench ahead of seasoned goalkeepers such as Stockdale and Kuszczak so far this season, and that is testament to his ability.

The 22-year-old is widely tipped to go on and become the Blues’ number one, although he is realistic and knows his turn may not come just yet.

Trueman was born in Birmingham and joined the club over ten years ago, and has featured in the starting squads at times, including Birmingham’s home draw with Norwich City.