Blues bid big for former Wolves winger

BBIRMINGHAM City are prepared to pay their biggest fee since Nikola Zigic joined the club in May 2010.

Blues HAVE made a £4 million offer to Crystal Palace for former Wolves winger Bakary Sako – dwarfing the £1.5 million laid out on Diego Fabbrini.

Manager Gianfranco Zola is keen to add proven quality to his squad after seeing Blues go four games without a win since he took over.

Sako has been a bit-part player at Selhurst Park this season but is thought to be finally free from injury and ready to resume a career that saw him sparkle at Molineux.

The 28-year-old Mali international scored 36 goals in three seasons for Wolves with performances that earned him a move to the top flight in August 2015.

After several years scraping by on free transfers and lower-league players, Blues have been bigger players in the market over the last 12 months.

Fabbrini was their first significant outlay in January last year, Che Adams arrived for what could be £1.9 million in the summer – but the money offered for Sako is £0.5 million more than Alex McLeish paid for Curtis Davies in 2011.

Sako was unable to prevent Wolves from slipping into League One in his first campaign but became a key player for the next two seasons. He scored 13 times in their promotion season and followed that up with 16 as Kenny Jackett’s men fell short of the Championship play-offs on goal difference.

Sako did reasonably well in his first season at Palace, making 23 appearances and starting like a house on fire.

He marked his debut with an 87thminute winner against Villa and followed that up with a goal and assist in the 2-1 victory at Chelsea.

However, injuries and a dip in form set him back. This season has been stop-start – more stop than start – as Sako has just four appearances and one League Cup start to his name.

He is into his second season of a three-year contract with the Eagles, which runs to the summer of 2018.

A fee of £4 million is probably the going rate for a player with something to prove but with a decent pedigree.

Sako would be a perfect fit on the left wing at St Andrew’s – either as an outand-out, chalk-on-your-boots winger in a 4-4-2 or on the left in a 4-2-3-1, which is where he featured at Wolves.

He’s got a good goal record, decent delivery and excellent pace. He would certainly be an upgrade. He’s not going to transform the team single-handedly but if fit and firing he would improve it.

Wages would be a significant step up in the context of the existing squad – but Blues have two choices. Make the step or stay where they are.