League One club Birmingham City completed arguably the most stunning signing of the summer 2024 transfer window as they signed Fulham striker Jay Stansfield for a fee of more than £10m on a seven-year deal.
At the same time they were completing a second signing of the night and 16th of the summer to bring in Celtic’s Tomoki Iwata, the American-owned club – relegated from the Championship last season – then made it 17 with the biggest of the lot.
They are understood to have agreed to pay Fulham £10m plus bonuses if Blues are promoted, after the Premier League side had turned down an initial bid earlier on Friday.
Fulham also stand to benefit from any future move after having a sell-on clause inserted into the deal.
And, although the price officially remains “undisclosed”, it has certainly smashed the League One transfer record.
That was understood to be the £4m paid by Sunderland to Wigan Athletic for Will Grigg five years ago.
But it has been widely reported that Blues had already come close to breaking that themselves earlier this summer with their back-to-back deals for defender Christoph Klarer and midfielder Willum Willumsson.
Both were also undisclosed, but both were thought to be around the £4m mark.
Blues’ spending is now understood to have topped £25m this summer, having also paid seven-figure fees for Emil Hansson, Ayumu Yokoyama, Alex Cochrane and Lyndon Dykes – as well as bringing in nine other new men.
The spree has been bankrolled by owners Knighthead, fronted by chairman Tom Wagner and with seven-time American football Super Bowl winner Tom Brady as part-owner.
