Gardner Jumps City Divide

Craig Gardner has made the switch from Villa to Birmingham this week in a deal worth around £3m.

The 23 year-old makes the move from Villa Park after spending his whole career so far with Aston Villa and made 79 appearances in his time there. Gardner will be up against some fierce competition at St Andrews with Barry Ferguson and Lee Bowyer having a superb season under the guidance of Alex McLeish. He isn’t the only midfielder to arrive at St Andrews this summer with Spaniard Michel joining Birmingham earlier in the month. To the anger of the Villa supporters, Gardner has made it well clear that he supported Birmingham as a boy and will be part of the squad that will face Spurs at St Andrews for his debut.

Gardner in his Villa days, he won’t be a favourite there anymore!

McLeish was ecstatic after nailing down the former England U-21 midfielder on a four-and-a-half year deal. The former Rangers, Hibs and Motherwell manager said to bcfc.com “Craig is a versatile and dynamic player who can perform in a number of positions. Players like that are really worth their weight in gold. He’s got a fantastic attitude and I’m sure he’ll sweat blood for the club because he’s a Blues fan. He is desperate to get his chance and we will have to wait and see when that will be”. Midfielder Gardner has played a number of positions in his time as a professional, despite being naturally a central midfielder. Last season at Villa, he featured numerous times on the right-hand side of midfield and also made a couple of appearances as a full-back.

On the whole, I think Gardner will be an excellent signing for McLeish and for £3m he is a player who possess a tremendous work-rate and decent technical ability. For £3m, I think that is an absolute steal for Birmingham considering the current English market that has seen genuinely average players move for much more than Gardner’s fee. He should also be very comfortable in fitting into McLeish’s system in a team that has a number of hard-working players and that work ethic has been vital in Birmingham’s success this season. Time will tell though whether he manages to win a place in his natural position over Ferguson and Bowyer who have arguably been the best midfield combination in the Premiership this season.