China skipper on Blues hit list

Birmingham have joined Newcastle in the race to sign China captain Zheng Zhi from Shandong Luneng.

Zheng spent four months on loan at Charlton last season, making 12 appearances and scoring against the Magpies.

City’s interest in the 26-year-old player comes only a week after Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung became the club’s leading shareholder.

And Yeung has made it clear he sees the Far East as a lucrative market for Blues to exploit during the coming months.

It would help to pursue those aims if Birmingham had representatives from that region in their squad.

Yeung, who may attempt to take complete control of Blues in the new year, said: “We’ve started observing local players. We hope to have some new developments in three months.

“We all know the Premier League in England is very popular. I believe it will get even more popular in China. The market is bigger.”

Birmingham boss Steve Bruce is expected to step up his attempts to complete the signing of the Tottenham duo, striker Mido and midfielder Hossam Ghaly, for a joint fee of around £9million when the club return today from their pre-season tour of Germany.

Blues triumphed 5-2 against non-leaguers FC Schweinfurt last night with summer signing Olivier Kapo from Juventus in impressive form.