Blues on brink of striker deal

Birmingham look set to beat Albion in the race to sign Lokomotiv Moscow striker Garry O'Connor.

Baggies boss Tony Mowbray is a long-term admirer of O'Connor from their time together at Hibs, but Blues are hopeful of tieing up a deal for the 24-year-old by the weekend.

The Scotland international is available at £2.5m and talks between the two clubs are already at an advanced stage.

City manager Steve Bruce is desperate for new firepower following the return of Nicklas Bendtner to Arsenal following his loan spell. He was unsuccessful with a £3m bid for West Ham's Marlon Harewood earlier in the week.Fulham, Everton and Portsmouth have also been linked with O'Connor, who scored 58 goals in 164 appearances for Hibernian before moving to Moscow 15 months ago.

A Lokomotiv spokesman said: "Birmingham want a lot of clauses included. They want to arrange the payment to take into account whether or not they stay in the Premiership.

"We would prefer a deal with no clauses. The negotiation of the financial details will continue and everything will be concluded within 48 hours."