Lee Bowyer's Birmingham City have been handed a boost in their bid to bring Dion Sanderson to St. Andrew's this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by The Sun journalist Alan Nixon, who revealed in a post on Twitter that Sunderland may be out of the running to land the Wolverhampton Wanderers centre-back, as Lee Johnson's side look unlikely to be able to afford a move for the 21-year-old in the summer transfer window.

According to an earlier report by the Daily Mail, Wolves have set an asking price of £2m for the defender, with Birmingham, Cardiff City, Luton Town, Millwall and Stoke City all thought to be interested in Sanderson.

Good news for Birmingham

Considering just how much potential Sanderson appears to possess, the fact that Sunderland, who have already seen a £1m offer for the centre-back rejected this summer, appear out of the race to land the 21-year-old is good news for all involved with Birmingham.

Indeed, over his 26 League One appearances for Johnson's side while on loan at Sunderland last season, the £135k-rated defender helped his team keep eight clean sheets, as well as making an average of 0.9 interceptions, one tackle, 2.7 clearances and winning an impressive 4.3 duels per game.

These metrics saw the man Stephen Elliott claimed has a "huge future" earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.92, ranking him as the Black Cats' 13th-best performer in the third tier of English football.

And, with the Blues currently only having Harlee Dean and Marc Roberts as options in the centre of defence ahead of next season, the position is one in which Bowyer will undoubtedly be looking to strengthen this summer.

As such, a move for Sanderson would appear highly advisable for the 44-year-old, as not only would the £820-per-week centre-back be a relatively cost friendly deal for Birmingham, the 21-year-old very much appears to be a player who could well develop into something of a star for the club.

In other news: Nixon drops worrying update on "explosive" £10k-p/w BCFC target, Bowyer will be gutted