Tom Fellows has enjoyed a sensational season with West Bromwich Albion and could seal a big money transfer this summer
Birmingham City can start playing catch up now that their Category One academy status has been restored.
Blues confirmed on Tuesday that the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC) has deemed their facilities and set-up up to Category One standard, three years after their licence was stripped.
Knighthead set out their intention to regain Category One status early in their tenure to keep Birmingham’s best talent in Birmingham.
While Blues have produced Jude Bellingham, Jobe Bellingham, Jordan James and George Hall in the past decade, hundreds of talented players have slipped the net.
The Birmingham-born players who escaped Blues’ net are all representing Category One clubs locally – Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A great example of that is Tom Fellows, whose name is never far away from the lips of Blues’ supporters.
The 21-year-old winger has become a Championship mainstay for West Bromwich Albion in the past two years and made 14 assists last season – more than any other player in the second tier.
Fellows has recently earned England under-21s call-ups and Premier League outfit Everton have shown interest in signing him.
Born in Solihull to a Blues-supporting family, Fellows grew up in Longbridge – a short distance from Wast Hills. Fellows should have found his way into the club’s academy.
Speaking to Sky Sports last year, Fellows joked: “My dad would only go when he got free tickets so it wouldn’t be very often! He wouldn’t pay!
“He’s followed Blues a lot in the Championship and he always tells me the Championship is the best league in the world because it’s so unpredictable.”
This week’s news means Blues can start to hoover up the city’s talent once again and create their own assets.
Not every player will become a Tom Fellows, even fewer will become a Jude Bellingham, but a steady flow of talent off the production line will prop up the first team on its upward trajectory and occasionally bring in some money.
And in this age of Profit and Sustainability, the sales of homegrown players – those who cost nothing on the balance sheets – are the most profitable for clubs.