Championship outfit Birmingham City are still pursuing a move for Fulham centre-back Alfie Mawson at this stage, according to this afternoon's latest update from Birmingham Live.

The 28-year-old has failed to appear regularly for the Cottagers this season, making just six league appearances and finds himself firmly behind Tim Ream and Tosin Adarabioyo in the pecking order in the English capital.

Terence Kongolo's injury and lack of match fitness previously looked set to give the Englishman more of a chance to break his way into Marco Silva's plans - but with Michael Hector for company too - he has failed to establish himself as a regular.

 

 

This sums up what has been an unsuccessful spell for Mawson since his £20m move from Swansea City back in the summer of 2018, failing to make a real impact in west London and spending much of his time on the sidelines with injury problems.

With this, he could potentially be released in the summer with his contract coming to an end at the end of this term - and the Blues are still in the race to recruit him according to Birmingham Live.

Linked with a move to St Andrew's in January, Football League World revealed last month that they continued to hold an interest and it seems as though they have kept their eyes on the centre-back going into the latter stages of the 2021/22 campaign.

The Verdict:

His injury problems are one reason why the West Midlands outfit may be best served steering clear from this potential move, even if they are able to recruit him on a free transfer.

In fairness, they do need to target this position with Teden Mengi set to return to his parent club and Kristian Pedersen looking set to leave St Andrew's on the expiration of his current deal at the end of this term.

Nico Gordon, who has become a regular in recent months, has also been the subject of interest from Premier League clubs so that's something they will have to consider when deciding whether they have enough centre-backs on their books.

As well as this, it doesn't look as though Harlee Dean's future lies in West Midlands unless a managerial change happens, though that's a possibility. Even if that happens though, his time in the Midlands is probably coming to an end anyway.

These factors could enable Mawson to win plenty of pitch minutes but keeping him fit will be quite a challenge and it also remains to be seen whether they can meet his wage demands, though the defender needs to keep his expectations low.