Quashie heads back to West Ham from Birmingham City

Jan 20 2009 by Andy Walker, Birmingham Post

anything, if I could come to Birmingham then I’d come straight away. Playing for Birmingham is what I want to do.”

It may have been what he wanted to do but it isn’t going to happen as Quashie now finds himself back at a West Ham team who are desperate to cash-in on their out-of-favour squad members.

Quashie, who failed to make Birmingham’s squad of 16 for Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Cardiff City despite being eligible, made 11 appearances for McLeish’s side with his last start coming during last week’s FA Cup third-round defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

McLeish’s decision to send Quashie back to East London comes as no surprise as the Scotsman has recently boosted his stock of midfielders following the acquisition of Bowyer, Hameur Bouazza, Scott Sinclair, Keith Fahey and Robin Shroot during the January transfer window. The Tunisian midfielder Mehdi Nafti looks set to be the next victim of Birmingham’s increased competition in the centre of the park with the former Racing Santander player already believed to be in talks with a new club.

Meanwhile Stephen Kelly’s return to Birmingham’s starting line-up on Saturday has also coincided with a call-up to Giovanni Trapattoni’s Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifying match against Georgia on Feburary 11.

The right-back, who was the target of a rejected bid from Fulham during the summer, made his first appearance in a Birmingham shirt for almost four months against Wolverhampton Wanderers last week having been sidelined with a groin injury.