Alex McLeish admits to his interest in David Wheater but fears Birmingham may be unable to meet Middlesbrough’s valuation.
Wheater is one of a number of players from the relegation-threatened sides who is sure to attract admiring glances from The Premier League should they find themselves demoted to The Championship.
Blues have set themselves lofty ambitions since escaping the second tier but McLeish is keen to play down expectations that have predictably skyrocketed in conjunction with the club’s return to The Premier League.
“With all due respect, who are we going to be able to buy to satisfy our supporters, totally?” he said in the Birmingham Mail. “It’s difficult for us to buy top-end centre halves in The Premier League.
“If Middlesbrough go down, then Wheater? He is a decent player and someone we have watched over the last five weeks just in case they say ‘do you want a bargain’
“But we think they will be looking for about eight or nine million pounds. And £9m for Wheater, it would be difficult for us to pay that.
“Listen, I don’t think it’s the time [here] for me to say ‘the directors have got to give me 30 or 40 million’. I would love to be given that kind of money.
“But what you have to understand and respect is that if you look at Sunderland who, okay, it seems as if they might survive, but they are in the mix to go down and they have spent £90m over two years. Now that’s scary for a lot of owners of clubs.
“I had a conversation with David Sullivan and said ‘why don’t you give me 30 or 40 million’? and when he explained all these things and you listen to the board telling you these things, it’s difficult to have an argument against them.
“So I said I will do my very best to keep us in The Premier League with the resources we have got.
“I don’t have a magic wand, I have to admit that. It would be easy to say ‘don’t worry, we’ll go to The Premier League and I’ll make sure we’ll stay there’.
"But I will do everything possible so we give our best and get the players who we think will help us stay in the division and then go on from there.”