Bristol City have missed out on Reda Khadra for a second time after the 21-year-old signed a deal with Birmingham until the end of the season.
Nigel Pearson was hoping to bring the wide attacker to Ashton Gate this month after his loan spell with Sheffield United was cut short. City failed to land him in the summer with Khadra opting to join the Blades.
He endured a disappointing loan spell with Paul Heckingbottom's side following just four league starts and returned to his parent club Brighton and Hove Albion where he signed a new contract until the summer of 2024.
Following the announcement of his new deal, Brighton also confirmed the talent will spend the second half of the campaign with John Eustace's Birmingham. It's another blow to Pearson who believed Khadra would have benefitted from a temporary spell in BS3.
Speaking last week, Pearson said: "He’s a player we have talked about in the summer because we felt he would be good for us.
"His loan deal hasn’t really worked out for him. He would be a player that I think would be good for us and we as a club would be good for him. It’s something we are exploring again but as it stands at the minute, we can’t do any business until people leave."
Khadra is likely to make his Birmingham City debut against Bristol City this weekend when they travel to Ashton Gate. Pearson have previously said his side could do with a "maverick" to benefit the dressing room but he is also searching for a matchwinner after drawing four of their last seven matches.
"We feel at the moment we’ve not really been in a position where we have created lots of goal-scoring chances. We need players like ‘mavericks’ who will still have to work hard for the team," he added.
"It’s not having a luxury player. We’ve had luxury players in the past and we have had to move them on because we can’t function with them. It’s about getting players who are match-winners at either end and whether that be good defenders or players who can win a game out of nothing."
City were linked with a move for Bournemouth attacker Jamal Lowe on Monday but Bristol Live understands he is not a target this month. Nottingham Forest's attacking midfielder Ateef Konate was also linked but Pearson dismissed those reports on Sunday.
He said: "Not as far as I know. He’s not somebody that I’m aware we’ve got any interest over.”
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