Key update on Portsmouth pursuit of Birmingham's Steve Seddon

The Blues believe they face an uphill battle to bring in the left-back from Birmingham to bolster their squad this month.

Kenny Jackett has Seddon on his hit-list of recruits this month, as he looks for a new left-back following Cam Pring’s recall by Bristol City.

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The Pompey boss has confirmed the 23-year-old is under consideration after going back to St Andrews after spending the first half of the season at AFC Wimbledon.

But Jackett privately knows there’s a long distance to travel to see the move to completion this month.

That’s seeing the Pompey boss and his recruitment team working on developing other opportunities before the February 1 deadline.

The Blues’ preference was to push for a loan for Seddon this month, although Birmingham were keen to look at a permanent deal.

It remains to be seen whether there will be movement in that situation before the start of next month, although his manager Aitor Karanka has moved to show his appreciation of the Berkshire talent.

Karanka explained he doesn’t know what will happen with Seddon this month.

He told the Birmingham Mail: ‘It was a club decision (to recall Seddon). I had a meeting with (CEO) Dong (Ren) and at that time Kristian (Pedersen) was injured and we didn’t know how long his injury was going to take and Sedds was available.

‘We decided to bring him back if Kristian was not ready I would like to give Sedds a chance to show he is ready to play.

‘Now he is here I would like to keep him here at least this week, two weeks or three weeks just to show him that we are following him, we are not allowing him to go anywhere to think that we have forgotten him.

‘It is the opposite, we want to look after him while he is with us now and what is going to happen in the next two or three weeks I don’t know yet.’

Seddon won’t feature for Birmingham against Manchester City in the FA Cup tomorrow, after already turning out for AFC Wimbledon in the competition this season.

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