Yahoo News Chris Davies has a Birmingham City buzzword – and Juninho Bacuna doesn't fit
Fleet-footed Juninho Bacuna appears to have enjoyed his last dance at Birmingham City. Blues have accepted an offer from Sivasspor for Bacuna and the Curacao international has been omitted from the club’s travelling party to Austria.
If the deal is completed, Bacuna will become the second Blues player to depart for Turkey this summer after Alex Pritchard. But the two deals could not feel more different.
Pritchard left through the back door having failed to impress in nine matches after signing in January. Each of his three starts ended in defeat, too.
Bacuna, meanwhile, was always a popular figure with Bluenoses and just experienced the most productive campaign of his St Andrew’s stay. Nine of Bacuna’s 13 Blues goals were scored last season and he also contributed six assists. No player bettered Bacuna’s 15 goal contributions for Blues last season – only Jay Stansfield matched it.
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And yet he wasn’t always in Blues’ strongest XI. Wayne Rooney was the only manager Blues had last season who insisted on playing Bacuna, the others all rotated him.
When Bacuna started in the Championship last season, Blues won 1.09 points per game, compared to 1.07 per game without him. As you can see, there wasn’t much difference with or without Bacuna in the XI.
When the going got tough for Tony Mowbray and Gary Rowett and Blues required results, Bacuna was left out of the starting line-up. He was dropped for the morale-boosting wins over Blackburn and Sunderland in Mowbray’s final week in charge and Rowett found a left-sider he could trust in Keshi Anderson to close the campaign.
Trust is often key with managers. While Bacuna was hailed for his versatility and spent at least a few minutes playing in every single position bar goalkeeper and centre-back last season, he wasn’t able to nail down one.
New Blues manager Chris Davies has talked a lot about reliability already. It has almost become a buzzword for Davies when discussing new recruits. He clearly values people he can count on to deliver consistently. Yes, Bacuna entertained and excited, but consistency was lacking despite what his 2023/24 numbers suggest.
Bacuna’s silky style probably wouldn’t have suited League One pitches come the winter either. With new signing Emil Hansson on board, Anderson still around, George Hall and Romelle Donovan coming through, and the list goes on, Bacuna’s exit is one Blues can cope with.
