Wayne Rooney dashed Ivan Sunjic’s hopes of a Birmingham City swansong

Ivan Sunjic’s Birmingham City career came to a screeching halt at the weekend. In one of the more unsurprising pieces of news to emerge from St Andrew’s this summer, Sunjic will not be part of the Blues’ League One side next season.

Sunjic is among five senior players to leave the Blues at the end of their contracts, along with Neil Etheridge, Marc Roberts, Gary Gardner and Scott Hogan. All five played a significant number of games for the club, but while the other four were sidelined last season, Sunjic was a regular in the Blues midfield.

The Croatian went on to make 40 more appearances for the Blues to take his final tally to 173 in his five years on the job. One of those seasons, the 2022/23 campaign, was loaned to Hertha Berlin.

Perhaps that disastrous spell in Germany, where Hertha were relegated and Sunjic was publicly scapegoated by his manager, who persuaded the midfielder to stay at the Blues last summer. Or maybe it was the plan presented to Sunjic by the head coach at the time, John Eustace.

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Eustace has promised to deploy Sunjic at the base of the Blues midfield alongside Krystian Bielik in a 4-2-3-1 formation. The pair complimented each other well. What Bielik lacked in feet, Sunjic made up for and what Sunjic lacked in aerial presence and positional sense, Bielik ticked the box.

They were absolutely crucial in the opening five games of the season as the Blues went unbeaten and recorded impressive wins against Leeds United, Bristol City and Plymouth Argyle. Until Eustace’s sacking in October, Bielik and Sunjic were almost perfect in midfield.

Then Wayne Rooney broke the playbook. Around a month before the Blues change manager, Sunjic spoke to BirminghamLive at the training ground in a rare interview and offered some insight into his strong start to the campaign.

Sunjic said: “That’s my role, number six, defensive midfielder – I know my role now. If you remember with (Aitor) Karanka we played 4-3-3 and I was like a big number eight. It’s not my role. The main difference now is that I play my part.

“Me and Krys, two sitting midfielders, that’s it. We have tricky players up front and if we can win the ball and pass it to them then they will cause problems for the opposition.”

Only Sunjic will know how he felt when Rooney asked him to play on the right of a midfield three in a 4-3-3 formation at Middlesbrough in his first game in charge. He had the impression that history was repeating itself.

Rooney has asked Sunjic – and most of his teammates – to play in a style that makes them uneasy. For all Sunjic’s ball-winning and combative qualities, he is not a midfielder who can take possession in difficult situations and play through teams.

He outlived Rooney and should be praised for his professionalism under Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett, both of whom spoke well of him. Sunjic played with heart and desire in the final weeks of the season when he knew his future lay elsewhere.

The lasting memory Blues fans will have of the man from Dubrovnik – who is actually from Zenica – will be his emotional reaction to his final goal for the club against Coventry City. Of course, that’s not what the Blues thought they’d get for their record £6m fee in 2019.

Thanks to a series of managers who have failed to appreciate and properly utilize his skill set, we have only seen glimpses of what Sunjic can actually do on a football pitch. And yet, the way he behaved once he crossed the white line means he leaves with his self-respect intact.

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