Dean White

Tue 31 January 2023 22:52, UK

Birmingham City will announce the signing of Emmanuel Longelo from West Ham United on a permanent basis on Tuesday night, according to Brian Dick.

The Birmingham Mail journalist reported at 10:39pm on deadline day (31 January) that he reckons Blues will announce the 22-year-old’s permanent arrival from the London Stadium in the coming minutes.

Longelo has been on loan at St Andrew’s and The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg has reported that the Championship side are paying £400,000 for the left-back.

All the best, Manny

Longelo has been on the books at West Ham since he was a young lad and he’ll have no doubt been in dreamland to have played for the Irons’ senior side a couple of times.

Longelo made his Hammers debut in the Carabao Cup in 2020/21 when he played in a 5-1 win over Hull City at the London Stadium.

His second outing for the East London club was in the Europa League last season when he played all 90 minutes of a 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the group stages.

Since joining Birmingham on loan in the summer, Longelo’s form has been hit and miss.

He’s played 16 times for Blues, scoring one goal and supplying two assists.

But Birmingham need to sign Longelo because they have so many loanees in their squad and they can only name so many on a matchday.

They’ll be able to name all their loanees – as well as the left-back – if they seal this last-ditch £400,000 deal.

As for West Ham, it’s a nice little cash boost for a player who was never going to really make it in the East End.

But we wish Manny all the best, nonetheless.