Earlier this week, Birmingham City overtook Coventry City and Stoke City in the race to sign Mjällby AIF’s Abdoulie Manneh.
Claims from Sweden from November and December reported Coventry City and Stoke City interest. Frank Lampard’s side were favourites to sign the 21-year-old in the winter market, but the whole transfer process turned into a farce.
Two days ago, Fotboll Direkt reported Manneh was set to undergo a medical with Birmingham City.
Then came the, perhaps inevitable, twist on Tuesday.
A move to Birmingham City collapsed and Mjällby AIF sporting director Hasse Larsson said they “don’t have all the facts”. Later that day, their CEO, Jacob Lennartsson, suggested the Blues pursuit of the winger wasn’t completely over at that point.
Fotbollskanalen have now got in touch with Larsson for the latest update on Manneh joining Chris Davies’s side… or not. He says the Gambia international’s move to the Birmingham City is off.
According to the director, an agreement was already in place, and he’s still not certain what went wrong.
“We had an agreement with Birmingham. But something has gone wrong, I don’t know what yet. I’ll find out during the day. If nothing happens, he’ll have to come back,” he said.
“It seems so [that the deal has been called off], but I haven’t had it confirmed. But it seems so.”
According to the outlet, the attacker is still in England. Both he and his agent have failed to respond to calls from the Mjällby AIF director.
“I’ve tried to contact him today, but he hasn’t answered yet. His agent isn’t answering either. We’ll see what they say,” Larsson explained.
Birmingham City is latest disappointment
As well as Birmingham City, other clubs have shown interest in the Gambian. Mjällby AIF are planning to first bring him back to the club before deciding the next course of action.
“I don’t know what it is. There are other clubs that are interested too, but if nothing happens with Birmingham, we will have to bring him home, so he can start training. After that, we will see,” he said.
Last summer, Manneh saw his move to Olympiacos collapse at the last minute. He’s now facing another disappointment with a move to Birmingham City.
“It’s hard for him. But that’s the way of the football world: you can’t take anything for granted until everything is done and signed. But of course, it’s hard for him,” Larsson said.
