Tom Brady’s influence at Birmingham City was praised by the EFL club’s chairman earlier this week, who hailed the co-owner for bringing in a winning culture. Now, that has transitioned to players joining the English side because of the New England Patriots legend.
MLS All-Star Joins Birmingham City After Talks With Tom Brady
German defender Kai Wagner has made the switch from MLS to the EFL Championship, and has immediately admitted that Brady played a role in his transfer. He has joined Birmingham from the Philadelphia Union to help them return to the Premier League.
The 28-year-old, who has earned three MLS All-Star honors and been named to the MLS Best XI twice, is pleased that the United States is discussing soccer and its growth in the country. He said (via The Mirror US):
“Tom Brady, his name in the US, he’s one of the goats, what we always say. His name is everywhere, how he did everything at the club now, it’s well aware now in the States too that he created this club or brings this club to a new level, but still keeps the stuff that the city needs, what the club needs. So it’s really, really good and the whole country and the USA also talks about it.”
Talking about his discussion with Brady and the co-owner’s plans for the EFL Championship side, Wagner said that he was impressed with the plans.
“It was a lot about football of course too, because he was a big football player too, I’m a big American football fan too, so it was just the conversations, I was really impressed in the conversations, how much he was talking about the club, how he wanted to change the club, what they bring into the club and all this stuff and a lot of stuff around that too, which was just really impressive to me too.”
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The St Andrew’s side are 17th in the EFL Championship and have a long way to go before having a chance to make it back to the Premier League. They are 21 points behind leaders Coventry City, but their target will be Preston North End, who sit in the final playoff spot and are just nine points ahead.
However, the issue for The Blues would be the 10 sides sitting between them and the final playoff spot, as they are tightly packed in the middle of the table. Manager Chris Davies will hope that Wagner’s addition helps them handle the pressure and slowly climb up the table, with 21 league matches remaining in the season.
