Blues close on Espinoza

Espinoza: Set for Birmingham

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Birmingham City have confirmed the club are close to signing a South American defender, with Giovanny Espinoza expected to arrive at St Andrews.

Skysports.com revealed last week that Premier League new boys Birmingham had lined up a deal for experienced centre-half Espinoza.

Blues have already clinched a club record deal for Espinoza's compatriot Cristian Benitez and are making further forays into the South American market.

Co-owner David Sullivan outlined the credentials of the prospective new signing, with Barcelona Sporting Club stopper Espinoza fitting the bill.

Trying for quality

"We hope that within two weeks to bring in another South American player - an established international who has played 80 times for his country and will put some backbone into our defence," Sullivan told the Birmingham Post.

"We're hoping to sign a few more players from South America in the next two to three weeks. We've worked harder in the last three weeks than we've worked at anything.

"People don't know what is going on behind the scenes, this has been going on 18 hours a day for about ten days.

"Myself and Karren Brady are working on about another 10 or 15 other deals. We won't get them all, we know that, but we hope to land three or four of them.

"What we are trying to buy this time is quality, last time we brought numbers and I don't think it worked. We're trying to buy quality and hope two or three of them really come good and make a difference on the pitch. We hope to make a number of signings this summer.

"We are chasing six centre-halves at the moment, if we get two of them then we will be pleased. The demand for very modest players is very scary. We've got to try to spend our money wisely and hope that some of the players turn out better than what they cost."