“Very concerned” – Birmingham City: Worry around Jay Stansfield injury made clear | OneFootball

Birmingham City’s primary attacker Jay Stansfield went off injured against Bradford City

Key Birmingham City forward Jay Stansfield had to be stretchered off in the Blues’ Vertu Trophy semi-final clash with Bradford City.

Stansfield was left hurt after being brought down by the Bantams’ Romoney Crichlow and was taken to hospital soon after.

It put a bit of a dampener on an otherwise celebratory night, as Birmingham progressed past the Yorkshire outfit to book their place at Wembley for the final.

We asked our Birmingham Fan Pundit, Mike, about just how worried he is by the injury.

Stansfield injury concerning for Birmingham, says Fan Pundit

Speaking to Football League World, Mike said: “Yeah, I'm very concerned with the Jay Stansfield injury.

“He’s obviously our top scorer, and I think certainly in the last couple of months has pretty much been the primary burden for all the goals.

“I think where others have sort of fallen back a little bit in terms of someone like Alfie May, Jay's been the primary goal source, so that does concern me.

“But at the same time, you know, talking about Alfie May, look at Lyndon Dykes coming on and scoring the winner.

“We've got some really great attacking talent that can pick up that burden. But let’s not get away from the fact that if you had a completely fit squad, Jay Stansfield starts every game.

“So hopefully it's not too bad and he's back sooner rather than later.”

Long-term more important than short-term for Stansfield

Much was made of Stansfield record-breaking £15million move from Fulham to Birmingham in the summer.

It’s a not-insignificant sum of money for a Premier League side to part with; seeing a third-tier outfit splash that level of cash is unheard of.

However, if there is such a thing as value for money when operating in those echelons, then Stansfield is it.

He’s notched 16 goals for the Midlands side so far in League One, a key reason why Birmingham find themselves six points clear at the top of the league with at least two games in hand on the teams around them.

And that is the primary saving grace here — Birmingham have got themselves into such a strong position that it would take one almighty drop-off to not be a shoo-in for promotion.

Mike is right to suggest that he will be a miss, but is equally correct in identifying the strength in depth the Blues have in attacking areas.

No Stansfield? No worries, Alfie May — already on 10 for the season himself — is more than capable of picking up the slack, having breached the 20-goal mark in each of his last three League One seasons.

The primary concern for Stansfield, given the fact he was stretchered off and taken to hospital, is that he’s back in top condition for next season.

He does not need to be rushed back in this campaign, whatever the diagnosis is, as Birmingham should have it sewn up. Thankfully, however, the club have confirmed that scans showed no signs of bone or ligament damage, which could lessen his time in the treatment room.

The club are almost certainly going to be in the Championship next season, and it’s players like Stansfield who are going to be vital to their success at that level.