As reported by the Daily Mail, amongst others, Birmingham boss Gianfranco Zola has dipped into the January transfer market for his third signing, the Italian bringing Emilio Nsue to St Andrews from Premier League Middlesbrough.
The 27-year-old utility player, who can turn out at right-back, right-wing and forward, has signed on at St Andrews on a three-and-a-half year deal, joining the Blues fo an undisclosed fee thought to be around £1m.
Nsue, who was born in Palma de Mallorca, represented Spain at youth level from U16 to U21, making 50 appearances and scoring 20 goals before making the international switc hto Equatorial Guinea for whom he’s made 12 appearances and scored five goals.
OFFICIAL: We're delighted to announce that Emilio Nsue has joined on a three-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee. #BCFC pic.twitter.com/txfNKLSU9r
— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) January 18, 2017
Nsue, who graduated through the Mallorca youth set-up, spent his formative years in Spanish football with Mallorca, loan deals taking him to CD Castellón and Real Sociedad. Middlesbrough bought him over to English football on a free transfer during the summer 2014 transfer window.
The utility player has made 80 appearances for Middlesbrough scoring three times and providing five assists, but has found game time hard to come by this season and has feature in just four Premier League games.
Speaking earlier this week, Zola said of the Middlesbrough player who has turned out mainly as a right-back, “Emilio is a player that first of all has already won the league, he has offensive qualities that are important.”
Birmingham currently sit in a mid-table 12th position, nine points out of the play-off places, and face an away trip to Blackburn at the weekend
