Birmingham City must rue £5.5m transfer mistake along with these 4 others | OneFootball

We have looked at five of Blues' notable past transfer flops

Birmingham City are enjoying a great season in League One right now, after a fruitful transfer window last summer, but not all of Blues' signings have been a success at St. Andrews in years gone by.

The Second City side have endured numerous ups and downs over recent seasons, and were a Premier League club on three separate occasions from 2002 to 2011 as they aimed to establish themselves in the top-flight.

That period saw numerous legends and cult-heroes win the hearts of Birmingham fans for their performances, but also brought about a lot of signings that failed to adapt to life at St. Andrews. They have been in the Championship, and now League One, since relegation 14 years ago, and so have been unable to spend as much money on players that may have flopped.

With that said, FLW have picked out five Blues signings that ultimately flopped for the club after arriving for relatively sizeable fees over the last 25 years.

David Dunn

David Dunn joined Blues from Blackburn Rovers for a reported £5.5 million on a four-year contract in 2003, as he became their club-record signing at 23-years-old and was lauded as a marquee acqusition as Steve Bruce's side looked to kick on in the Premier League.

He started pretty well at St. Andrews, as he scored winners in games against Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United early in his debut season, but he is probably best remembered at the club for his failed rabona shot in the Second City derby against Aston Villa, which has gone down in Premier League folklore.

The attacking midfielder missed large parts of each of his three-and-a-half seasons at the club due to respective injuries, and Birmingham suffered an unfortunate relegation to the Championship in 2006, with him then returning to Blackburn six months later in a move that signified how his time in the West Midlands had not gone to plan.

Dunn later admitted that he "never really wanted" to join Birmingham from boyhood club Rovers in the first place, and he is widely considered one of the most high-profile flops in the club's history.

Rowan Vine

Basingstoke-born forward Rowan Vine played for a whole host of clubs in the EFL and non-league throughout his 22-year career as a player, and is perhaps best remembered for his spell at Luton Town, which earned him an initial £2.5m move to Birmingham in 2007.

Vine had been a hit at Kenilworth Road in the second-tier, but was unable to transfer that form over to his time at Blues after moving midway through the 2006/07 campaign, with just one goal in his first 17 appearances for the club.

Despite his failed move, Birmingham were able to win promotion to the Premier League that season, which meant his transfer fee rose to £3m even though he had little future at the club.

Vine moved to QPR on loan that summer, which was later made into a permanent move for just £1m in January 2008, representing a pretty sizeable loss for the club in just one year. He later explained that he felt manager Steve Bruce had made him the "fall guy" in his time at the club.

Walter Pandiani

Uruguayan international striker Walter Pandiani first arrived at Blues on loan from Deportivo La Coruna in January 2005, after he had fallen out of favour in Spain despite previously impressing in La Liga, and he actually got off to a great start at St. Andrews before eventually petering out.

Pandiani, who was known as 'El Rifle' from his time in Spain, fired home inside 12 minutes of his debut for the club in a Premiership game against Southampton, then went on to net three more times in 13 games that season as then-boss Bruce soon saw fit to sign him on a permanent deal from Deportivo for around £3m that summer.

However, he was only able to make 21 more appearances in the 2005/06 season, with just nine starts and two goals to his name, as Bruce preferred the likes of Emile Heskey and Mikael Forssell up front. He was soon sold to Espanyol just five months after his permanent move for a third of the fee that they had paid, and the Blues boss was forced to admit his mistake in signing him full-time.

Michel

Spanish midfielder Michel had been a regular in La Liga with Sporting Gijon prior to his transfer to Birmingham in January 2010, but struggled to ever make an impact in the West Midlands as Alex McLeish's side aimed to stay in the Premier League.

Michel was meant to make the switch to Blues in the summer prior, but instead joined six months later for a reported fee of £3m, yet was never able to dislodge Barry Ferguson in McLeish's midfield with only nine league outings and three starts in his first half-season.

He then made just three League Cup appearances in the first half of their 2010/11 cup-winning campaign, before a loan move to AEK Athens in January 2011. That was followed by a permanent move back to his native Spain with Getafe that summer, as his failed 18 months as a Birmingham player came to a swift end.

Sam Cosgrove

While the above flops were all signed when Blues were in the top-flight, they have also managed to waste their fair share of money on players in the Championship since 2011, and Sam Cosgrove is a notable recent example of exactly that.

Cosgrove had been a regular scorer for Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership prior to his £2m switch to Birmingham in January 2021, who were then in the midst of a relegation battle and managed by Aitor Karanka.

The burly centre-forward could not find the net in his first few months with his new team, then, as Blues stayed in the second-tier with Lee Bowyer in charge, he was immediately shipped out on loan to Shrewsbury Town that same summer, and soon recalled in January only to be sent back out to AFC Wimbledon.

Cosgrove returned to Birmingham action in August 2022, but then was sent back on loan to Plymouth Argyle and helped them win promotion before being released from his St. Andrews' contract a year early to join Barnsley in September 2023. He did not score a single goal for Blues in 17 appearances.