A few days ago Birmingham City announced the presence of two trialists for their friendly against Oxford United. One of them was Simeon Slavchev, a Bulgarian midfielder from Sporting.
In the post-match conference, Harry Redknapp made some comments about the 23-year-old, saying he liked him and that the player should be around this week.
Portuguese newspaper A Bola cover the situation on Tuesday, and like previous reports from Portugal, make the situation sound complicated.
A Bola say Birmingham’s intention would be to get the player on a permanent deal, but it’s ‘blocked’ by the fact Sporting only own 80% of Slavchev’s registration rights.
They don’t make it clear why that makes a permanent deal impossible, it would be more complicated, with Birmingham having to negotiate with a third party to buy the remaining percentage, but not beyond the realms of possibility.
A Bola believe if Slavchev stays in England, it will be on a loan deal. It’s not mentioned how advanced the talks are, but since the player is not in Sporting’s plans for next season, the negotiations shouldn’t be tough.
