Blues take out loans as Monk gets down to business
BLUES have secured season-long loan deals for Bournemouth winger Connor Mahoney and Cardiff striker Omar Bogle.
Blackburn-born Mahoney, an England Under-20 player, will wear the No.7 shirt.
He came through the ranks at his boyhood club but left Ewood Park in the summer of 2017 following Rovers’ relegation to League One.
Bournemouth took advantage of the situation by snapping up the 21-year-old, and were ordered to pay a compensation fee of £425,000 as Mahoney was under the age of 23. The winger headed out to Championship side Barnsley for the second half of last season, but he made just eight appearances for the Tykes as they suffered relegation.
Blues have moved to strengthen their options in attack by securing Bogle, who will wear the No.14 shirt.
He played for Blues’ academy for two years as a youth player and returns to the club seven years after his release in 2011.
He was also a target for Ipswich but Blues have beaten their Championship rivals to his signature.
The 25-year-old spent time at Solihull Moors, scoring 62 goals in 111 league appearances, before getting his break in professional football with Grimsby in 2015.
He moved from there to Wigan in January 2017 and then on to Cardiff in August last year for a fee of £700,000.
However, Bogle finished last season on loan with Peterborough, since when Cardiff have been promoted to the Premier League.
Bogle is determined to finish what he started after his second coming.
“I’m feeling very good,” Bogle told Blues TV. “When the chance came up to come back here I couldn’t turn it down to be honest. I had some good clubs and good options but when Blues came up I had to come here. I had to finish what I started.
“I came here with the intentions, when I was younger, to break through and it didn’t quite happen. But the opportunity came to come back home and I’m buzzing to be here really.”
And Lee Camp hopes he can be Birmingham City’s ‘Steady Eddie’ after signing a deal to join the club.
The experienced goalkeeper has penned a two-year deal and moves on a free transfer from Cardiff City.
And the 33-year-old hopes to bring stability to Blues’ No.1 shirt.
“I just want to be consistent, play, play well – and be consistent. That’s all I think you need from your goalkeeper,” Camp said.
“When called upon hopefully I can produce the goods and don’t cost you too many goals and hopefully at the end of the season I have done more good things than bad things.
“But it’s just a consistency you want a Steady Eddie and thing, that’s one thing I have tried to be all through my career.
“A few blips along the way but, generally, I think that’s one thing I can bring to the table – the rest of it will be down to people’s opinion.”
He will challenge for a starting berth straight away, alongside rookie Connal Trueman and could make his debut at Middlesbrough on Saturday. Camp has had a long career, much of which has been spent in the Championship. He started out at Derby but has since played for QPR, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Rotherham, and also had a stint at West Brom.
He joined Cardiff on a free transfer as cover last season and ended the campaign at Sunderland. He has nine Northern Ireland caps to his name.