Sources: Birmingham City open preliminary talks to sign Joe Gelhardt

Birmingham City have held preliminary talks about signing Leeds United attacker Joe Gelhardt, sources have told Football Insider.

The Blues are looking to secure a loan deal for the 24-year-old attacking midfielder.

Sources say Birmingham have discussed the possibility of making the deal permanent if they are promoted to the Premier League.

Gelhardt has been heavily linked away from Elland Road this summer after his successful loan spell at Hull City last season, where he helped the Tigers return to the English top-flight.

The forward was fundamental to this success, as he scored 14 Championship goals and picked up four assists.

Birmingham City will be hoping such form could be replicated at St Andrew’s, with Chris Davies aiming to return the club to the Premier League for the first time since 2011 this season.

If the Blues are successful with their pursuit, Gelhardt could become the club’s sixth signing of the summer.

Can Joe Gelhardt guide Birmingham to promotion this season?

Birmingham’s biggest issue last season was that the squad simply did not score enough goals.

Overall, the Blues netted just 57 times in the Championship, with even relegated Leicester City netting more at 58.

As a result, it became clear that Birmingham are in need of a deadly attacker this summer if they to push into the playoffs and potentially earn promotion.

Therefore, they will be hoping that Gelhardt can solve this issue in the upcoming season if they can get a deal over the line.

It is clear that the Leeds man has little to no trouble in finding the net in the second tier.

According to Fotmob on 5 August, he averaged 0.45 goals, a 0.36 xG, 2.55 shots, 1.18 shots on target, 0.13 assists, a 0.13 xA and 1.08 chances created.

How does Gelhardt compare to Birmingham’s current attackers?

When comparing Gelhardt’s stats last season to those of Jay Stansfield’s, there is only one winner.

Despite the Birmingham striker ending last season as the club’s joint top scorer with 10 goals, his stats aren’t great.

Overall, he averaged 0.27 goals, a 0.30 xG, 2.53 shots, 0.79 shots on target, 0.16 assists, a 0.16 xA and 1.20 chances created.

Therefore, Gelhardt would likely be a considerable upgrade if the club are able to get a deal over the line in the coming weeks.