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Birmingham Revive Bart Interest Friday, 24th May 2019 23:14
Town goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski is once again the subject of interest from Birmingham City, who failed to buy him last summer but are now said to have launched a fresh bid to sign the Pole, according to a report in a national newspaper today.
The report, which initially appeared in the Daily Star, is accurate, TWTD understands, with the club set to consider bids for the Polish international, who is the highest-paid player at Portman Road following the bumper new deal he signed last year after returning from duty with Poland at the World Cup finals in Russia.
That new contract followed the Blues' refusal of a £3 million offer from Birmingham for Bialkowski, who, following a tough season for both club and player, is valued at half that figure in today's report.
Town have already released experienced keeper Dean Gerken but although they today agreed to bring in Czech keeper Tomas Holy, who rejected the offer of a new contract at Gillingham, it is believed they are keen to offload Bialkowski - and that the keeper himself is expecting to depart.
League One football will do nothing to improve Bialkowski’s international prospects, although his exclusion from the Polish squad last term was mainly due to a slump in form by the 31-year-old that led to him losing his first-team place to Gerken.
Bialkowski was the supporters’ Player of the Year for three successive seasons before being selected for Word Cup duty but he was way below his best for the majority of a campaign that saw Town finish bottom of the Championship table.
It would make sense for both club and player if Bialkowski moved on and Birmingham have emerged as the first interested party, although the keeper will almost certainly attract further bids, mainly from the Championship, in the coming weeks.
Should he, as expected, depart for pastures new Town are likely to bring in another experienced keeper, unless Lambert sees Holy as his number one and promotes 20-year-old Harry Wright to the role of second choice.
In addition to Holy, TWTD understands the Blues have spoken to a number of other keepers this summer, including QPR's Matt Ingram and Exeter's Christy Pym.
Photo: TWTD
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I'd be surprised if Bart was still here next season. He will want to move on and frankly we will almost certainly need him to. His bumper wages are just unaffordable. Sadly, the buying team is very much in the driving seat and I doubt we would get more than £1.5M. Brum or another taking on his wages and contract will however yield significant savings for the club.
Make no mistake Bart has been great for us, cant just judge him on one poor season. good keeper at this level who can be an amazing shot stopper but often his distribution/kicking can let him down sometimes. my heart says i would like him to stay, but my heads says it may be the right time for bart to find another club, as some others have pointed out he is a high earner and league 1 football will not help is international ambitions at all. One of our best keepers over the last decade easily, wish bart all the best if he goes.
We'll see where this story goes.......the game is changing however and goalkeepers with the ability to play the ball are becoming increasingly in demand. Sadly Bart does not fit this bill which makes me wonder if other clubs will mark him down as a result. The nervousness of last season when he was asked to play out from the back was PALPABLE.
Bart deserved his 3 pos awards because his brilliant saves kept us up those 3 seasons. He isn't tho the brilliant keeper some think he is. And no, I'm not knocking him, think hes beenvgreat for us. But this last season has shown what he is. Hes a good keeper. Brilliant shot stopper but that's it. His kicking and distribution is frankly poor and his command of his area not much better. Not saying that's his fault, it's just the way it is. Different keepers have different strengths. I certainly hope, wherever he ends up, he finds his best form again and gets himself back into the Poland squad. Dont believe hes worth any more than £1.5-2 million now. But if we could get that and therefore get his wages off the bill it would def help the club. Would def need another keeper tho as I dont believe Wright is ready to step up just yet. Think Pym would be a great signing if we could get him. Have him and holy competing for the number1 spot.
@ TomGarneys, I think one of the other members said clicking this link https://www.twtd.co.uk/page/clearcookies clears the problem. Worth trying, can't promise it will do the trick but I think it worked for somebody else the other day on another thread saying similar.
As a Birmingham fan I hope this isn't true. I know Ipswich fans rate him but from what I saw of him last year he was very poor. With Kieftenbeld out with a cruciate and Gary Gardner and Connor Mahoney returning to their loan clubs we are very short on midfielders. This is the area that we need to be prioritising. In goals we have Camp and Truman who can both do a job to get by without excelling. If Che is sold as likely then we need to get in a replacement. Sheff Utd take a big 20% sell on wedge out of that with a lot likely to go on balancing the books too. Garry Monk has said the majority of our signings will be freebies and loans so this could be just lazy journalism as we tried to sign him last summer.
Bart is, as has been mentioned by so many others on here is a great shot stopper and i firmly believe had it not been for him we would have already been relegated! But these days a goalkeeper needs to have so much more to his game and its those aspects that are sadly missing from his game! Barts kicking and distribution is nothing short of woeful at times!
I wish him well but time for him and us to separate!
A great asset to our club in his time here( he will have to go to save money to bring in other players) and he single handedly at times kept us in games and the championship when he rescued the inept mistake ridden performances of captain calamity and the premiership class N0/8 who by all accounts was in the side to protect the back 4, what a waste of space these two are if highest earners need to go then it is those two go through the motion clowns!!!
The modern day keeper has changed so much, to what a keeper was only 10 yeas ago. In another 10 years all keepers will have the ability to play on field if required. It started a few years back and is evolving. I don't think Pep would have a goalkeeper who didn't have the ability to play on field. Amazing how the position of a keeper is and will continue to change, to the keeper of old.
obviously a Town favourite; for me always a touch overrated but still fond - last season cost us crucial points at crucial moments - the precise opposite of what we needed to steady the ship. He has to take his fair slice of responsibility for where we are now.
But, thanks Bart for being a Town favourite. You'll always rightly regard Town as your club, and home.
Bart has had a poor season,but has been amazing previously, and has dug us out of the crap more than once.If he now feels its in his best interest to move on good luck to him ,Time will tell if Holy will be a good replacement , heres hoping .
Started to get back to his best in the last few games despite a dreadful season.. WE know what a top keeper he is and could be the difference with us going up auto, play-offs or not at all..
Shame but its obviously Town want him off the wage bill - However, we should be holding out for a top fee as he is one of most saleable assets...
World Cup squad member out - League 2 player in. I have a mate who follows Gillingham home and away and he said “he has his moments, he's not that special”. Most people on this forum are happy with this deal and therefore accepting the 2nd Summer of the Marcus Evans downgrade. I have renewed and will be there home and away next season but you have to face the reality that Marcus doesn't care about anything but limiting his losses. By the way, Harry Wright, ready for the first team?! You have to be joking.
If Bart stays - great. I love him and why should I care about our finances when our owner doesn't. I'm a fan and want the best players possible out on the pitch for us - especially ones that the club clearly means so much too. If he goes - I hope he goes somewhere better than Birmingham because he deserves it. Mind you, I thought Waghorn deserved somewhere better than Sheff Utd - oops!
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