“I think he’ll be abroad for a while” – Club director plays down chances of Birmingham player signing in summer

Arriving on a free from Djurgårdens back in January 2019, Kerim Mrabti hasn’t quite had the impact desired in his brief time at Birmingham City.

The Sweden international only managed two goals and an assist in 15 league appearances for the St Andrews club this season, and with a contract expiring in June, an exit is expected to take place.

Birmingham have an option to extend Mrabti’s deal by an extra year, but reports in England suggested they wouldn’t be triggering it.

That means 26-year-old will be free to choose a new club, but it seems a return to Djurgårdens isn’t on the cards just yet, at least according to the Swedish club’s sports director, Bosse Andersson.

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He told Fotbollskanalen: “I have good contacts with him and talked to his dad as late as last week. I know about his situation. It’s a pretty tough time when it comes to football these days. As for what his future looks like… we have no contact for him to play in Djurgården, but I think Djurgården has a special place in his heart.

“He probably has ambitions to continue to be a professional abroad. We haven’t had a dialogue about a comeback, but we’ve had one about he feels and how it’s been. There has been no talk of coming back to Djurgården. I think he’ll be abroad for a while”.

While Andersson played down the chances of the Birmingham player returning to his former club, he did express a wish of seeing him come back at some point later on in his career while the sports director was still ‘active’ at the club.

We’ll have to wait for that, but we now know where Mrabti will not be going in the coming months.