Siriki Dembele is on the verge of being confirmed as City’s Tahith Chong replacement
Birmingham City are set to bank multiple millions from the imminent sale of Tahith Chong to Luton Town, but there is clear commitment to make John Eustace’s squad more exciting this summer.
Chong has only been at the Blues permanently for a year following a previous loan stint at St Andrew’s, but the £4 million they are set to receive from the Hatters represents a significant profit for the Dutchman.
Having sold Jobe Bellingham as well for a seven-figure fee to Sunderland earlier in the summer, City have money to spend as evidenced by the signings of players such as Tyler Roberts and Ethan Laird, and this is being backed by the soon-to-be approved takeover by American hedge fund manager Tom Wagner.
The next move now needs to be a winger to come in and replace the outgoing Chong, and it appears Birmingham are being proactive in the market as they have someone set to arrive already.
According to a report from BirminghamLive, a fee has been agreed with Bournemouth to sign wing wizard Siriki Dembele, with just personal terms to agree and a medical to pass before the 26-year-old links up with the Blues.
It isn’t the first time that City have tried to sign Dembele either, with the Blues making offers for him whilst at Peterborough United in January 2022, but Posh director of football Barry Fry confirmed at the time that he did not want to make the move to the Midlands.
18 months later however and it is a different story, with Dembele all set to make the switch from the south coast.
Who is Siriki Dembele?
Dembele had a rather unconventional route into professional football, having spent time in the academies of Dundee United and Ayr after moving to Scotland from London as a child before then being snapped up by the Nike Football Academy.
Having had trials with EFL clubs when at Nike, Dembele ended up signing for Grimsby Town in 2017 as a 20-year-old, but after just one year, 39 appearances and four goals, the winger was able to secure a transfer for Peterborough United – a club well-versed in giving young talents a chance and selling them on for a profit.
That is exactly what they did with the Ivory Coast-born trickster, as in his three-and-a-half years at London Road he scored 30 times and notched the same amount of assists in 147 appearances until his time there came to an end in January 2022 when Bournemouth swept for his services for a seven-figure fee.
After being used more of an impact player off the bench in his first half-season with the Cherries, Dembele barely got a look in under Gary O’Neill in the first half of the 2022-23 campaign and was sent out on loan to Ligue 1 outfit Auxerre, where he failed to register a goal or assist in 12 appearances.
Is Siriki Dembele a like-for-like replacement for Tahith Chong?
With Chong’s best position in Eustace’s system coming as a right winger in a 4-2-3-1 and cutting onto his stronger left foot, it would suggest that Dembele isn’t coming in as a direct replacement.
Instead, he is more likely to start off the left considering he is a right-footer, with the majority of wide players now playing as inverted wingers or inside forwards.
He did however play mostly as a right winger for Auxerre as a more traditional wide player, but with Koji Miyoshi coming in as the left-footed winger this summer, we could see the Japan international instead being the successor to Chong at St Andrew’s rather than Dembele.
