Birmingham had been relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in almost 30 years, but after investing heavily in the squad over the summer, they stormed to the League One title with an incredible total of 111 points, which set a new EFL record.

Blues owner Tom Wagner has made no secret of his desire to lead the club back to the Premier League in the near future, and the Midlands outfit are expected to be one of the biggest spenders outside the top flight this summer, along with fellow newly-promoted side Wrexham, but with high-profile incomings likely, manager Chris Davies will have some tough decisions to make on his existing squad.

Krystian Bielik and Marc Leonard tipped for Birmingham City exits this summer

When asked which players he believes may be keen to leave the club this summer, FLW’s Birmingham City fan pundit Jason Moore claimed that defender Krystian Bielik and midfielder Marc Leonard could both push for a move.

After signing a new three-year contract at the club last summer following relegation, Bielik was handed the captain’s armband, but his game time became increasingly limited over the course of the season, with the 27-year-old making just three league starts after the turn of the year.

The Blues fought off strong competition to sign Leonard from Brighton & Hove Albion last summer for a fee of £500,000, but just 25 of the Scot’s 47 appearances in all competitions this season came from the start as he struggled to break up the partnership of Paik Seung-ho and Tomoki Iwata.

According to Football Insider, Birmingham are prepared to allow Leonard to depart on loan this summer amid interest from “multiple” Championship clubs, and Jason believes Bielik could follow the midfielder out of the exit door at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park.

“Two players who I don’t think are happy with their situation at the club at the moment and are potentially looking for a summer exit are Marc Leonard and Krystian Bielik,” Jason told FLW.

“Leonard may be looking for a move potentially because of the lack of football he’s had.

“When he signed for us, he was someone with a lot of potential.

“I don’t think he would have come into the club expecting to play every game, but the lack of football he’s had has been pretty alarming.

“For someone who played every single game the season before at Northampton, I think he would have expected to play a little bit more, but unfortunately for him, Paik and Iwata have been absolutely incredible.

“Chris Davies loves that pairing, and whenever he can get them back fit and playing together, they are straight in the line-up.

“He very rarely went without Paik and Iwata, even last season when fans were calling for rotation, he would always pick them both if he could.

“It’s a difficult one with Bielik, he’s the club captain, and he signed a new deal last summer, but I don’t think he would have foreseen how the season went.

“He started off quite strong with Christoph Klarer at the back, and then we ended up bringing Ben Davies in, who was absolutely incredible.

“It left Chris Davies in a position where he felt like he couldn’t not play Bielik, but he also couldn’t not play Davies because he had been that good.

“He tried the three at the back with Bielik at right-back, but it just didn’t work, and eventually Bielik lost his place in the squad to Ethan Laird, who just pushed on from January onwards and was absolutely superb.

“Bielik found it really difficult from January onwards to get a lot of football.

“With the calibre of player he is, he would probably think that he wants more game time, but it’s a difficult one to call.

“If he was to ask for a move, I wouldn’t be surprised, purely because of how good he is and the fact he’s going to want to be playing football.

“He’s also going to want to get back in the Poland national team, and if he’s not playing football, that’s not going to happen.”

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