According to Football Insider, Blues held discussions with Devine about bringing him to St Andrew’s on a season-long loan, but the deal fell through. Along with Al-Ettifaq, a Saudi Pro League team led by Liverpool veteran Steven Gerrard, a number of other clubs, including Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City, were also interested.
Even after the English transfer window closed, the 20-year-old managed to stay in England for a few days before completing his move. Devine inked a season-long loan agreement with Westerlo, a Belgian team, six days after the market closed. The Belgian transfer window is open until Friday, September 6, which is why a deal might be finalized. The Spurs young player was easily acquired by Westerlo, and now, despite rumors of transfers to English teams, the attacking midfielder will play in Belgium for the foreseeable future.
With the arrival of Fulham’s Jay Stansfield for a potential £20 million deal, Birmingham was allowed to look for a replacement for Devine. Similar to Devine, Stansfield is an attacking midfielder. Birmingham targeted him this summer and managed to acquire him on the last day of the transfer window, even though Fulham had originally wanted to hang onto the England under-21 international. Chris Davies also has Luke Harris, an offensive midfield option on a season-long loan from Fulham, at his disposal. This week, he was playing for Wales’ under-21 team internationally, but he was pulled.
Some may be surprised, though, that Birmingham City and Spurs did not make any acquisitions during the transfer window. This summer, first-team manager Chris Davies left the North London club, looking instead to sign midfielder Tomoki Iwata on deadline day at Celtic, another of his old clubs.
