The Birmingham City XI if they keep their best youngsters

Jude Bellingham may be a star at Borussia Dortmund these days, but just two years ago he was playing league football with Birmingham City.

The Blues appear to have produced one of England’s next top stars in Bellingham, but there have been many exciting young talents coming through St Andrew’s in recent years.

With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at an XI of the best young players to have played for Birmingham in recent years.

GC: Jack Butland

Birmingham have had some great goalkeepers in recent years, including Joe Hart and Ben Foster playing for the Blues, but we’ve chosen real local talent in Jack Butland.

As an England international, Butland has enjoyed a more than respectable career in English football.

RB: Maxime Colin

Despite all the good work the Birmingham academy has done over the last decade and a half, they have struggled to produce truly brilliant defenders and that is why their current right-back Maxime Colin makes the cut here.

CB: Kortney home

Kortney’s home was on Birmingham’s books as a teenager, but after only a few months with the Blues he moved to Wycombe.

However, it wasn’t long before he was back in the West Midlands with Wolves and now he’s competing for Birmingham’s biggest rivals – Aston Villa.

CB: Marc Roberts

A similar story to Colin, Birmingham quite simply haven’t produced a better central defender than Roberts in recent years so he keeps his place in this team.

LB: Kristian Pedersen

The Danish left-back is the latest current Birmingham City player to make the XI as Birmingham have struggled again to produce a brilliant left-back in recent years.

CM: Jeremy Boga

This is sort of a cheat as Boga was only on loan to Birmingham but it’s worth noting how brilliant he has been since retiring from the Blues.

The Ivorian has become a real star in Serie A, scoring 11 league goals in a single season with Sassuolo a couple of years ago and that’s what he has been connected to Barcelona.

This is a far cry from the player who struggled under Steve Cotterill and Garry Monk at Birmingham.

CM: Jude Bellingham

The jewel in Birmingham’s crown. Jude Bellingham is undoubtedly one of the biggest names on this team.

Since moving to Germany, the Englishman has established himself as a true elite midfielder at the highest level and is now being linked with a massive £90million move to Liverpool.

CM: Jesse Lingard

Much like Boga, Lingard was only on loan at Birmingham but again it’s worth noting his development since that brief stint in the Midlands.

Lingard has been a regular in England for the last five years and Birmingham fans were among the first to see his quality as he scored four goals in just his second appearance for City.

LW: Demarai Gray

The only Premier League winner on this team, Demarai Gray, has a winner’s medal from Leicester City’s fairytale season.

The winger has had a rollercoaster career so far, from struggles with Bayer Leverkusen to starring for Everton earlier this season. Gray seems to have reached a difficult point in his development yet again, but the talent is certainly for all to see.

ST: Che Adams

Che Adams was not a product of the Birmingham Academy, but he certainly honed his craft at St Andrew’s.

The striker almost single-handedly sustained Birmingham in the 2018/19 season and has since established himself as a regular in the Premier League at Southampton, while now also being a regular in the Scotland national team.

RW: Nathan Redmond

Nathan Redmond is the fifth England international to join the team and since leaving Birmingham in 2013 he has had a fantastic career playing over 250 Premier League games and at the age of 28 the winger still has plenty to offer .

In other news, 0 goals in 7 games; The Rangers’ goal is in danger of missing the Ibrox train