Having secured Championship survival with relative ease last season, Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer will now be turning his attention to the summer transfer window in a bid to ensure that the Blues continue their upward trajectory next term.

While the 44-year-old has claimed that he will not be spending big with the hope of a dramatic climb up the second tier standings next season, but rather hoping to gradually build a side capable of mounting a promotion push, one player the club have been linked to would appear to be an extremely astute addition to his squad at St. Andrew's ahead of next year.

That player is Dion Sanderson, with the Northern Echo suggesting that Wolverhampton Wanderers are prepared to cash in on the 21-year-old centre-back this summer, as long as an interested party coughs up their £2m asking price.

Bowyer must move

After joining Sunderland on what was supposed to be a season-long loan deal last October, Sanderson quickly went on to establish himself as a first-team regular in Lee Johnson's side, turning in a number of impressive performances for the Black Cats - prior to picking up a season-ending injury in the closing stages of Sunderland's campaign.

Indeed, over his 26 League One appearances last season, the £135k-rated defender helped his side keep eight clean sheets and scored one goal, as well as making 0.9 interceptions, one tackle and winning 4.3 duels per game.

These returns saw the centre-back earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.92, ranking him as Johnson's 13th-best performer in the third tier of English football.

The Wolves defender also spent half a season on loan at Cardiff City back in 2020, where he made 10 Championship appearances for the Bluebirds, registering two assists and helping his side keep four clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.4 interceptions, 1.2 tackles and winning 3.7 duels per fixture - earning an average SofaScore match rating of 6.77.

As such, considering how solid Sanderson's performances have been for both Sunderland and Cardiff, as well as the fact that the 21-year-old defender - who Johnson claimed is already a "Rolls Royce" - still has much developing to do in his professional career, if Bowyer can go on to seal a deal for the Wolves man this summer, especially for a very reasonable £2m fee, it would appear to be an extremely impressive piece of business for the Blues.

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