Emanuel Aiwu to Birmingham City transfer: Rejecting Celtic, Burnley interest, window priority
Birmingham City transfer latest as BirminghamLive takes a closer look at the man who could become Blues’ latest summer signing
Birmingham City are reportedly closing in on the signing of Emanuel Aiwu from Italian side Cremonese FC. Blues want to add another defender to their ranks before the closure of the transfer window this coming Friday night, and in Austrian Aiwu they appear to have identified another summer target.
Blues have been busy, of course, already this summer; having bid farewell to a host of players at the end of last season, including experienced heads like Maxime Colin, Troy Deeney, Harlee Dean and George Friend, as well as loanees Reda Khadra, Hannibal and Auston Trusty, the recruitment team headed by Craig Gardner have overseen an impressive window.
Having decided to bring back Kevin Long for another year, they made efforts to re-sign loanees Dion Sanderson and Krystian Bielik and then set about refreshing each department of their squad; young, exciting full-back options have been added on either side of the back-line, while Blues have also brought in creative talents Tyler Roberts, Siriki Dembele, Keshi Anderson and Koji Miyoshi. They’ve also recently added striker Jay Stansfield.
Still, Blues remain a little light on options and depth at the back and it appears as though Aiwu could be the missing piece. What do we know about him?
Footballing background
Born in Austria, who he has represented at various age groups and who he has captained in that time too, Aiwu does qualify to represent Nigeria through his father. He came through the academy of Austrian second division side Admira Wacker and played regularly in the first team as a teenager having made his debut in 2018.
Aiwu earned himself a move to Rapid Vienna in the summer of 2021, the club which he considers to be the biggest in Austria. At the time, Rapid’s sporting director Zoran Barisic said of Aiwu: “Despite his young age, he has already gained a lot of experience in the Austrian Bundesliga and is also a defensively versatile player.”
Rapid finished fourth last season, 22 points behind champions Red Bull Salzburg, but Aiwu – who tasted European football during his time at the club – suitably impressed and earned himself a £3.5m move to Serie A side Cremonese, who had just been promoted to the top flight in Italy but who immediately suffered relegation in their first season.
Aiwu played 23 Italian top flight matches and came up against some of the top attacks in Europe, including Champions League outfits Inter Milan and Napoli. It was expected that, after relegated, he could be available for another move and, potentially, a first crack at football in the UK.
Transfer links
Burnley, on their way to storming the Championship title last season, were linked with a move for Aiwu in April time. They supposedly sent scouts to check on Aiwu when he was in action against Atalanta. The Clarets, preparing for life in the Premier League, ultimately completed the £7m signing of Dara O’Shea from West Brom.
Twelve months ago, Aiwu – on his way to Italy at the time – publicly shared that he had spurned the advances of Celtic and German outfit Mainz. He said: “There were inquiries from Mainz and Celtic and there was interest from clubs in Turkey and Russia, but Cremonese impressed me the most when we spoke – they showed they really wanted me. I loved my time at Rapid, but Serie A is an absolute top league, I will be challenged here every week, I’m looking forward to this opportunity.”
Window priority
It was always high up on the list of priorities for Aiwu to move on again this summer. Even though he is only 22 and has represented three different clubs already in his fledgling career, his agent confirmed at the beginning of the summer that potential moves would be explored.
Marcelo Brillman told Kicker, on the subject of which national team he may represent at senior level: “Emanuel has played for all junior national teams in Austria and was born and raised here. We’ll see what the future brings. The upcoming transfer window is now our top priority.”