Birmingham City, Kwame Poku transfer fear raised involving Celtic and Rangers | OneFootball

Birmingham City fear the compensation rules could allow Celtic or Rangers to steal a march in the race to sign Peterborough's Kwame Poku.

Birmingham City are worried they could miss out on Kwame Poku to Celtic or Rangers due to the low compensation fee the Scottish side would be able to pay.

The 23-year-old has emerged as one of the top talents in the EFL due to his performances for Peterborough this season, with Poku scoring 12 goals and registering eight assists in 27 League One games.

Therefore, with his contract expiring, a host of clubs have been tracking Poku, with FLW revealing that Blues are preparing a big-money offer to the player.

Celtic and Rangers have an advantage in Kwame Poku transfer chase

Even though Poku’s contract is running down, Peterborough are entitled to compensation due to his age, which will be decided by a tribunal if the two clubs can’t agree on a fee.

However, that only applies to English clubs, and if Poku moved to Scotland, either Glasgow side would only be required to pay UEFA’s cross-border compensation scheme fee, which is considerably lower than the number Peterborough would want.

As a result, Give Me Sport has stated that Birmingham are worried that Celtic or Rangers will move ahead of them in the race for Poku.

The low compensation means they will be in a position to make a more attractive offer to Poku financially, whether that’s via higher wages, a hefty signing-on fee, or both.

Kwame Poku is a talent destined to play at a higher level

There’s no denying that this ruling does put Celtic and Rangers in a strong position for Poku, and any other players who fall into this category.

We have seen the two clubs take advantage of this in the past, with Moussa Dembélé joining Celtic from Fulham and Joe Aribo signing for Rangers from Charlton Athletic as just two examples.

It was claimed Rangers paid just £300,000 for Aribo as part of the ruling, which gives an indication as to how much Poku could cost.

This is obviously not what Peterborough want, as well as Birmingham, but the reality is that Poku is in a position where he can decide his next move.

The appeal of Blues is obvious due to the ambition of the owners, and there’s a very real chance they will be playing in the Premier League in the next few years.

Yet, Celtic and Rangers are huge clubs who play in Europe every year, so they would also represent a huge step-up for Poku, who will want to challenge himself at that level.