Birmingham City will be hoping to build upon the promising displays that they produced during the closing stages of the previous campaign by making a positive start to the 2021/22 season in August.

Set to face Sheffield United on the opening day, it will be intriguing to see how the Blues will line up for this particular fixture.

Manager Lee Bowyer has already drafted in some fresh faces this summer with Jordan Graham, Chuks Aneke and Ryan Woods all opting to make permanent moves to St Andrew's.

Meanwhile, Birmingham have waved goodbye to Amari Miller, Josh Dacres-Cogley, Dan Crowley, Jon Toral, Agus Medina, Ivan Guzman and Mikel San Jose.

One of the individuals who the Blues were looking to keep at St Andrew's during the current transfer window was midfielder Alen Halilovic.

The 25-year-old was offered a new deal by Birmingham last month after illustrating some signs of promise in the Championship last season.

However, with his current contract set to expire today, Halilovic has yet to make a decision on his future.

Making reference to the midfielder's situation, Bowyer has admitted that the doesn't know whether the door is still open for Halilovic to stay due to the fact that he has been reluctant to agree to fresh terms.

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Speaking to the Birmingham Mail about the former Barcelona man, the Blue boss said: "I believe if a player wants to come to you and they want to play for the club - obviously the money side of it, they have got a short career, I understand that.

"But there comes a point where it's tough times for everyone financially.

"Us, as a football club, we made a good offer, I think a fair offer.

"But I want people to come and play for us because they want to, 'Yes I want to play for Birmingham City'.

"Then the money side should come second to a certain extent,

"If we offered him a silly contract I'd say 'Okay, fair enough'.

"But we didn't.

"So would the door be open? 

"I don't know."

GIVEMESPORT's Joshua Cole says...

When you consider that Halilovic has had an offer on the table from Birmingham for several weeks now, it is looking increasingly unlikely that he will be willing to extend his stay at St Andrew's.

Although there is no doubting the midfielder's talent, he did struggle considerably for consistency in the Championship last season as he only managed to average a WhoScored match rating of 6.40.

Therefore, with there being no guarantee that he will able to step up his performance levels during the upcoming campaign, it could be argued that the Blues may not exactly struggle in his absence if he decides to move on to pastures new.

By drafting in a replacement who is keen to help Birmingham reach new heights in the second-tier, Bowyer could potentially lead his side to an encouraging start to the season.

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