If Jay Stansfield leaves Wayne Rooney, Birmingham City may turn to Portsmouth star

Jay Stansfield’s season-long showing for Birmingham City has been so good that his parent club Fulham might consider calling up the young forward from his St Andrew’s loan.

In his 12 Championship outings this season, the Devon-born forward has scored five goals, including two in his previous two league contests.

He signed a season-long loan with Birmingham City, but considering Fulham’s recent struggles in scoring goals, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him called back in January.

With just nine goals in 11 games, the Cottagers sit 15th in the league table—only Burnley have scored fewer.

After Aleksandar Mitrovic left for Saudi Arabia in the summer, the team from West London has had trouble finding a replacement for his goals. Carlos Vinicius has scored one goal for Fulham, while Bobby Decordova-Reid has scored twice. Raul Jimenez, a summer acquisition, has not yet scored.

This has sparked rumors that Fulham would bring back Stansfield in an effort to improve their chances of scoring.

Birmingham would suffer a severe setback if the 20-year-old was called up, given they have started the attacker in ten league games this year.

If the Fulham loanee were to go, Portsmouth’s Colby Bishop might be a ready-made substitute waiting for the Blues.

Who is Colby Bishop and how has he performed for Portsmouth this season?

The 27-year-old striker Bishop has made 15 appearances in League One for Pompey this season, scoring nine goals.

He scored 20 goals in League One last season and 39 goals in all competitions since joining the South Coast team in the summer of 2022.

Before departing the club in 2016, he began his career at Notts County, where he progressed through the academy system. He then signed with Worcester City, a lower league, hoping to play regular first-team games. Before moving on to another non-league team, Boston United, in 2017, he would spend a season at Worcester. After two years, the striker went to Leamington, where he stayed until 2019 when he was given a chance to play EFL football.

In his first season at the EFL level, Bishop scored 12 goals in 31 appearances after joining League One team Accrington Stanley in the summer of 2019. He followed that up with another 12 goals in 2020–2021 and then 14 goals in 2021–2022, which won him a transfer to Pompey.

Bishop has averaging 3.3 shots per game, 1.6 of which have been on target, according to Sofascore. This season, he has scored once every 150 minutes. This season, he has scored nine goals with his right foot and two with his head.

It is hardly surprising that Bishop works hard, with high pressing being one of his primary skills, considering his relatively unconventional path to the EFL.

Has there been much interest in Colby Bishop?

It’s a little odd, considering his strong performance for Pompey, that there’s been no real interest in Bishop.

But come January, there’s no doubt that a lot of scouting teams will have him on their radar.

Portsmouth News reported in the summer that Pompey would have needed to pay between £3.5 and £4 million to even consider offers to get the striker to leave Fratton Park.

Should Stansfield depart Birmingham in January, the Portsmouth man would be a good substitute, depending on funding.