Birmingham City are reportedly in a transfer war with West Midlands rivals and Championship leaders Coventry City for Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka.

That is according to the Daily Mail, which appeared just hours after the strong Bees midfielder was part of the Nigeria squad that lost to African Cup of Nations hosts Morocco in a penalty shootout on Wednesday night.

Onyeka discussed his international experience with Birmingham’s summer addition, Bright Osayi-Samuel, who will return to St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on Saturday afternoon for their third and fourth-place play-off against fellow semi-final losers Egypt.

It has been widely reported that Chris Davies is looking to reshape his squad ahead of the Blues’ final 20 league matches of the season, as they are currently in the midst of a congested and competitive battle to reach the play-offs at the end of the campaign after an inconsistent start following their record-breaking season in League One.

One of the areas targeted for modification is Davies’ midfield, which now includes Paik Seung-ho, Tomoki Iwata (though he has mostly played right-back), Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Tommy Doyle, and Marc Leonard.

While the latter remains the subject of exit rumor in this section of the Second City, it was reported last month that Birmingham were looking for a ‘strong’ midfielder to join their 25-man team.

Earlier this week, reports suggested that Davies had found that man in Girona FC’s 21-year-old Colombian midfielder, Jhon Solis, with the Blues believed to have fended off competition from Liga MX side Tigres UANL by securing an initial loan deal worth around £6.9 million that could be turned permanent on an optional or mandatory basis.

However, while a deal for Solis has yet to be completed, it has emerged that they will face competition from Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues to sign Onyeka, over five years after joining Brentford from Danish Superliga club FC Midtjylland.

Birmingham City face Coventry City in the transfer war for Brentford’s Frank Onyeka.

As previously stated, Onyeka was one of the West London club’s first recruits after Thomas Frank led the team to their first Premier League promotion from the Championship.

The midfielder has also been capped 41 times by the Super Eagles, the vast majority of which have come at the Gtech Community Stadium since his international debut in October 2020.

Onyeka was initially a lynchpin in midfield under Frank as the Bees beat the odds and gradually established themselves in the Premier League, thanks in large part to the success of their’moneyball’ recruitment strategy under Matthew Benham’s ownership.

Since joining Brentford in July 2021, the 28-year-old has made 87 appearances, scoring one goal and assisting six times.

Only nine of his appearances have come in the first few months of Keith Andrews’ employment, as he has frequently been utilized as a replacement option or failed to make it off the bench in multiple games under the former Republic of Ireland international.

Such fortunes have also been attributed to the high-profile summer acquisition of England international and one-time Premier League winner Jordan Henderson, who has spent the last four weeks focusing on AFCON, which concludes this weekend.

The player, who spent last season on loan with Augsburg, started four of the Super Eagles’ AFCON matches, including the semi-final, and might potentially leave Brentford permanently, with Birmingham and Coventry allegedly interested in his services.

In addition to the Blues’ own midfield aspirations, Coventry has identified targets in this area, including Sunderland outcast Dan Neil. However, as exclusively reported by Football League World, they will have a challenge from Sheffield United on that front.

Birmingham City or Coventry City would have to pay Frank Onyeka a large wage payment.

Although neither club is short on funds under the ownership of Tom Wagner and Doug King, Birmingham or Coventry would still have to pay Onyeka a sizable salary if they were to sign him.

According to ESTIMATED figures from Capology, the combative midfielder earns a base wage of £40,000 per week at the Gtech, which is equal to the wage reportedly earned by Blues’ £10 million summer signing, Kyogo Furuhashi, while the Nigerian would immediately top the Sky Blues’ charts ahead of Luke Woolfenden, Matt Grimes, Ellis Simms, and Haji Wright, all of whom are said to earn £25,000 per week.