This article is part of Football League World's 'The Verdict' series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more

Birmingham City are willing to let Sam Cosgrove leave St. Andrew's on loan this summer, according to The Sun on Sunday (20th June, page 65).

Cosgrove arrived at St. Andrew's for around £2million in the January transfer window, but has since been unable to make an impact.

The 24-year-old made 12 appearances in the Championship, starting on only two occasions and failing to find the back of the net.

The Sun now claim that Birmingham are willing to let Cosgrove depart on loan this summer, with a view to him getting regular game time under his belt.

Ipswich Town are said to be interested in signing the striker, and a positive season in League One could get the best out of him.

Here, we discuss whether a loan move away is the right call for Cosgrove this summer...

Adam Jones

Despite enjoying a good spell at Aberdeen, Cosgrove seems to have struggled to adapt to life in the West Midlands and could use a loan to kickstart his career.

And after enduring a tough first season with the Blues, perhaps a change of scenery would help the forward to recapture the form he showed in Scotland. If he does go out on loan, many Birmingham fans will think his £2m move last summer was a complete waste of money - but what's the point of having him at St Andrew's if he isn't going to play?

A loan would allow the Blues to see Cosgrove in regular action and then reassess him at the end of the next campaign. If he fails to impress at Portman Road, then they can look at cutting their losses with the 24-year-old, because they may come to regret offloading him permanently now if he goes on to shine elsewhere.

Preferably, an interested loan side would take on the majority of the striker's wages to make room for a potential temporary replacement to come in - but they may have to reduce their loan fee down to zero if they want that to happen.

Ipswich Town are one of the sides reportedly interested in him, and he could shine for a side looking to challenge for promotion in the third tier. Sometimes you have to take a step down to rise back up to the top.

Jordan Rushworth

Allowing Sam Cosgrove to leave St Andrews on loan this summer does make sense considering that he does not appear to be someone that has earned the trust of Lee Bowyer since he took over from Aitor Karanka and it will be unlikely that he starts for them next term.

Cosgrove was signed under Aitor Karanka and the Spaniard clearly thought that he would be worth the £2 million outlay and could add goals to the Blues’ attacking options. However, he was never able to get the chance to show what he could do really before the Spaniard left and things have been very difficult for him since.

Having a player of Cosgrove’s value rotting away on the bench for a season does not make much sense and therefore if Bowyer does not intend to use him then it might best to allow him to leave the club on a loan deal. If he performs well out on loan then the Blues could use that to drive up his value and sell him on next year.

Bowyer needs to be completely sure that Cosgrove will not be featuring in his plans before allowing him to leave but that does appear to be the case. Therefore, it would make sense if the Blues were to sanction a temporary departure for him.

Ned Holmes

This seems like absolute madness to me.

Lukas Jutkiewicz is not getting any younger and Scott Hogan's return has hardly been world-beating since he signed permanently, so it's mystifying to be that the Blues would want to move on from Sam Cosgrove so soon.

The 24-year-old's start has been a slow one but he's not been with the club long and surely needs more time to get settled.

Moving him on now makes absolutely no sense to me, they should be giving him more time and assessing whether he can be Jutkiewicz's long-term replacement.

If Bowyer wants him out then I guess it's best to move him on but to me that would be a mistake.