Birmingham City release 14 players and offer two senior stars new contracts

Birmingham City have released five senior players following their relegation to League One to begin a massive summer rebuild.

Neil Etheridge, Marc Roberts, Ivan Sunjic, Gary Gardner and Scott Hogan will all leave the Blues when their contracts expire on July 1. The club have offered John Ruddy, 37, and Lukas Jutkiewicz, 35, new contracts.

The Blues also picked up the option to extend Keshi Anderson’s contract for another year. The 29-year-old midfielder finished last season strongly under caretaker boss Gary Rowett and will continue at the club until the summer.

But it is the end of the line for Etheridge, Roberts, Sunjic, Gardner and Hogan, all of whom have enjoyed long spells at St Andrew’s. Roberts has spent the past seven years at the Blues and made almost 200 appearances, while Sunjic remains the club’s record signing. Etheridge, Gardner and Hogan all played small parts last season and will now be looking for new challenges.

READ: Bielik appeal and James’ inevitability in Birmingham City’s transfer game

READ: Villa flop and Mowbray’s ‘genius’ among Championship free agents Blues can sign

The Blues also released nine youngsters, including Marcel Oakley and Tate Campbell. Oakley made four first-team appearances last season and eight in total, having managed to make it through the summer of 2021 under Lee Bowyer. Versatile defender Campbell has made four appearances for the first team, the last of which came in August 2022.

Goalkeeper Oliver Basey, Callum Sullivan, Rico Patterson, Finley Thorndike, Kieran Wakefield, Morgan Dance and Pharrell Williams also leave the Blues. New contracts have been offered to Brad Mayo and Rico Browne, while one-year options have been activated to keep under-21 goalscorer Junior Dixon, Laiith Fairnie, Femi Olofinjana, Harley Hamilton and Sahid Kamara.

Players contracted for next season:

Keshi Anderson, Juninho Bacuna, Ben Beresford, Krystian Bielik, Lee Buchahan, Alfie Chang, Junior Dixon, Siriki Dembele, Romelle Donovan, Laiith Fairnie, Tommy Fogarty, George Hall, Harley Hamilton, Josh Home, Jordan James, Sahid Kamara, Brandon Khela , Ethan Laird, Emmanuel Longelo, Koji Miyoshi, Femi Olofinjana, Byron Pendleton, Paik Seung-ho, Alex Pritchard, Tyler Roberts, Dion Sanderson, Josh Williams.

Do you agree with the club’s decisions? Have your say in the comments section HERE