Birmingham City are attempting to price James McFadden out of a return to Scotland after rejecting a £5.5 million bid from Celtic. The Scotland forward, who indicated in the spring that he would stay at St Andrew’s regardless of their status next season, joined from Everton for £5.75 million in January, but Willie McKay, his agent, has said that the player no longer wishes to play in the Coca-Cola Championship.

Celtic also offered Bobo Balde, the 32-year-old defender, to Birmingham as part-exchange, but Alex McLeish, the manager, has no desire to sell. “James has told me that he wants to leave,” McKay said. “He is happy that Alex McLeish gave him an opportunity to play first-team football every week, but it’s a short career and he wants to play at the highest level.”

McLeish said: “We’re not in the business of selling our best players. We don’t need to. James is vital to our plans.” Birmingham have missed out on signing Jan Koller from Nuremburg after the Czech Republic forward decided to join Krylia Sovetov Samara, the Russian club.