The persistent Portsmouth-linked man’s £500,000 move after talk of Swansea City, Preston North End, Sheffield United & Co

There’s often no smoke without fire when it comes to those targets which will just refuse to go away.

In the case of Marc Leonard, however, there was never any need to fan the transfer flames when it came to talk of a move to Fratton Park.

And now the tittle-tattle can finally be put to bed after the Scottish under-21 international yesterday completed a £500,000 move to Birmingham from Brighton.

The News reported shortly after the latest round of speculation in January, that Leonard was not an option being pursued.

Boss John Mousinho spoke positively of the 22-year-old’s attributes, describing the midfielder as a ‘really good, young prospect’.

Although there was an appreciation of Leonard’s talents, there was some reservations about his ability to step up to the Championship now - which is where Pompey were headed on a never-to-be-forgotten campaign.

It wasn’t just the Blues either, there was a long line of clubs being touted with interest in the Hearts academy youngster - including Swansea, Sheffield United, Plymouth, Cardiff and Preston.

But after two campaigns on loan Northampton, who he scored a cracking goal for at Fratton Park in a 4-1 loss in February, it’s St Andrews where Leonard will be playing his football next term.

Birmingham have handed the classy operator a four-year deal, after their relegation to League One, with Leonard confident he’s arrived at the right club for him.

‘I’m delighted,’ he told Blues TV. ‘As soon as I had the first conversation, I knew this was where I wanted to be.

‘I’m glad to be here and I’m looking forward to it - it’s an honour.

‘I felt like the time was right, it was a long process but I’m glad to be here now.

‘And I knew that Blues was the club that I wanted to play for so I really pushed for the deal to go through.

‘Based on where I am in my career and where Birmingham are trying to get to, I just felt like the ambition of this club really matched my own.’