Martins Dumps Relegated Birmingham

Despite helping relegated Birmingham City to secure the English Carling Cup, Super Eagles of Nigeria striker, Obafemi Martins would be heading back to his former Russian club, Rubin Kazan.

The Birmingham Mail reports this afternoon that the relegated club are already releasing some players on loan following their relegation from the English Premier League, EPL to the Championship.

Martins made a surprise loan move to Birmingham in January and scored the decider to seal 2-1 victory over Arsenal in the final of the Carling Cup played at the Wembley Stadium, London.

Other players that would also leave the relegated team are Aleksandr Hleb (Barcelona), Matt Derbyshire (Olympiakos) and David Bentley (Spurs) who have equally made a quick return to their clubs after their loan spell with the English club.

Reports say out of contract Kevin Phillips, Stuart Parnaby and Lee Bowyer are not expected to be re-engaged.

Martin Jiranek is likely to also head back to Russia after rejecting the option Blues had on his contract.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Larsson is a top target for both Sunderland and Newcastle United on a Bosman free transfer. The one-year option on Stephen Carr’s contract automatically kicked-in when he passed a certain number of games this season.