Skip to main content

Birmingham City must brace themselves for Bright Osayi-Samuel problem

Birmingham City have signed free agent Bright Osayi-Samuel after his Fenerbahce contract expired

Bright Osayi-Samuel during a Nigeria game
Bright Osayi-Samuel during a Nigeria game(Image: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty)

Birmingham City are likely to lose new signing Bright Osayi-Samuel for a period next season due to the rescheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations.


Osayi-Samuel is a 22-cap Nigeria international and the Super Eagles will take part in AFCON in December.


Their first game against Tanzania is set for December 23 before further group stage fixtures against Tunisia on December 27 and Uganda on December 30.


Osayi-Samuel is expected to form part of Éric Chelle’s squad as Nigeria look to go one better than two years ago when they were defeated 2-1 in the final by Ivory Coast.

The final of the tournament will take place on January 18, meaning Osayi-Samuel could miss seven league matches – plus Blues’ FA Cup third round tie – if Nigeria reach the final.

He would likely have to report well in advance of Nigeria’s opener on December 23, forcing him to sit out of Blues’ meeting with Sheffield United on December 20. Osayi-Samuel would miss festive fixtures against Derby, Southampton and Watford even if Nigeria don’t make it beyond the group stages.


There is the possibility that he could also miss matches against Coventry (January 4), Swansea (January 17) and Sheffield Wednesday (January 20) if Nigeria reach the final.

The tournament, which will be held in Morocco, wasn’t supposed to be staged in the winter this year but it was pushed back due to the expanded Club World Cup.

Fortunately, Blues are well stocked in the right-back position with Osayi-Samuel set to battle Ethan Laird for a starting place. Iceland international Alfons Sampsted is still in the building and utility man Taylor Gardner-Hickman is capable of filling in.


Who will win the battle to be Blues' right-back? Have your say HERE

Everyday, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Birmingham City content.

Our dedicated reporters Alex Dicken and Brian Dick - you can follow Alex on X here and Brian here - follow Blues around the country and they offer you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.


So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur - that's why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Blues newsletter here.

You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive's Blues team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories and insight from in and around the club.

If you prefer reading our Blues stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Blues as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here.

Article continues below

Our weekly Birmingham City podcast, Keep Right On, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.

Follow Birmingham Live:


Birmingham City FCBright Osayi-SamuelBirmingham City FC Transfer News
reach logo

At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the saleor sharing of your data, at any time clicking the "Do Not Sell or Share my Data" button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Privacy Notice.