Birmingham City promotion could be very bittersweet for Lukas Jutkiewicz | OneFootball

The striker is out of contract this summer, and could be set to wave goodbye to St Andrew's

The Birmingham City promotion precession is showing no signs of slowing down right now, with the Blues almost certainly set to be playing back in the Championship next season.

Chris Davies’ side have an eleven-point buffer to third-placed Wrexham heading into this weekend’s action with a game in hand on the Red Dragons, such has been their dominancy in the third tier so far this season.

With the likes of Jay Stansfield, Alfie May and Lyndon Dykes all leading the line this season, the Midlands outfit haven’t been short of goals, with the former currently the league’s joint-top scorer with 16 goals in 24 appearances.

With a whole host of attacking options at their disposal, City stalwart Lukas Jutkiewicz has barely got a look in this season, and this summer could well spell the end for the veteran striker at St Andrew’s.

Birmingham City promotion may well spend the end for Lukas Jutkiewicz

With over 300 league appearances for the Blues, Jutkiewicz has become synonymous with his industrious displays up top for City over the past eight years, with the majority of that time spent battling relegation in the Championship.

The big man could always be relied upon to grab himself a few goals a season, but it has been a different story this time around, with the young spritely characters around him playing a much more prominent role.

As a result, the former Coventry City man has only featured in ten matches this season - all of which coming from the substitutes’ bench - and is yet to hit the back of the net in the 142 minutes of game time he has been afforded.

With his contract elapsing in June, it will be a case of de ja vu for the striker this summer, having been in a similar position at the end of the previous campaign before City offered him a one-year extension to his deal after suffering relegation to League One.

But with an impending promotion on the cards, the Midlands outfit surely won’t have quite the same sentimentality this time around, with an emotional goodbye expected for one of St Andrew’s’ cult heroes of recent times.

Lukas Jutkiewicz’ Birmingham City legacy

A player like Jutkiewicz should be heralded in the modern day, with an eight-year spell at any club becoming something of a rarity in an age where players move from pillar to post, season after season.

Moving to the Midlands as a 27-year-old at the peak of his powers, the frontman played a part in keeping the Blues’ head above water in the second tier for much of his time with the club; hitting double figures in three of his first four seasons after joining from Burnley.

Not only was he adept at craning his neck to head home a ball into the penalty area, but a penchant for bringing teammates into play and unselfish work leading the line made him the perfect team player in a side fighting for their lives at the bottom of the division.

A tireless work rate is something that will always be appreciated by the St Andrew’s crowd, and Jutkiewicz has that in spades. Even with over 600 career matches in his legs he would still love to give his all for the club that has taken him under their wing as one of their own.

This was a player that was nomadic by nature at the start of his career, with nine separate clubs under his belt by the time he was 27, and at his lowest ebb after a two-year goalless stint at Turf Moor.

But at St Andrew’s he has found a home and found a family, and if it is going to be goodbye at the end of the season, there won’t be a dry eye in the house.