At the weekend, Birmingham City allowed Alfons Sampsted to complete a permanent move to Go Ahead Eagles.
During the course of the negotiations, Birmingham City offered Willum Willumsson to the Eredivisie side. The Icelandic midfielder arrived at St Andrew’s in 2024 after spending two years at the Dutch club.
Go Ahead Eagles CEO Jan Willem van Dop ruled out signing Willumsson after the Blues offered their player. Indeed, Van Dop went further, and questioned the player’s level and current fitness. The comments were inappropriate for him to make publicly.
Chris Davies’ side could still see the midfielder move to the Netherlands in the winter market. Two days ago, we covered claims from the Dutch press than NEC Nijmegen have emerged as a candidate to sign him.
NEC Nijmegen’s interest in the Iceland international is further backed up by other Dutch outlets.
De Telegraaf state the Eredivisie side are working on signing Werder Bremen’s Isak Hansen-Aarøen. He still needs to clear medical examinations to complete his move.
With Hansen-Aarøen’s imminent arrival, the newspaper claim NEC Nijmegen are looking for another midfielder. This is where the Birmingham City man comes into the picture.
According to De Telegraaf, Willumsson is a ‘concrete candidate’ to strengthen the Dutch club’s midfield in this window.
Birmingham City not convinced by approach
De Gelderlander, a newspaper local to NEC Nijmegen, point to a lack of depth in the squad. This is after selling Kento Shiogai to VfL Wolfsburg and letting Vito van Crooij and Rober González join Sparta Rotterdam and Real Zaragoza respectively.
The Birmingham City player is the top candidate for midfield. De Gelderlander claim ‘negotiations are proving difficult’ to take him away from the Blues in this window.
He’s played 392 minutes from 10 league matches and doesn’t seem to have a major role under Davies.
It’s surprising Birmingham City are acting tough especially considering the Championship side tried to get rid of Willumsson earlier this month. Maybe the deal NEC are offering is particularly poor, inspired by Van Dop.
