Colby Bishop has been in great form for Portsmouth this season; he could be the answer for Birmingham if Stansfield is recalled by Fulham
Jay Stansfield’s season-long showing for Birmingham City has been so good that his parent club Fulham might consider calling up the young forward from his St Andrew’s loan.
In his 12 Championship outings this season, the Devon-born forward has scored five goals, including two in his previous two league contests.
He signed a season-long loan with Birmingham City, but considering Fulham’s recent struggles in scoring goals, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him called back in January.
With just nine goals in 11 games, the Cottagers sit 15th in the league table—only Burnley have scored fewer.
With Aleksandar Mitrovic departing for Saudi Arabia in the summer, the West London-based outfit has struggled to replace his goals. Bobby Decordova-Reid has netted twice for Fulham, with Carlos Vinicius scoring once. Summer signing Raul Jimenez is yet to score.
This has led to speculation that Fulham may recall Stansfield in a bid to increase their chances of finding the back of the net.
If the 20-year-old was to be recalled, it would come as a huge blow to Birmingham, who have started the attacker in ten league games this season.
However, if the Fulham loanee were to depart, there could be a ready-made replacement waiting for the Blues in Portsmouth’s Colby Bishop.
Who is Colby Bishop, and how has he performed for Portsmouth this season?
Bishop is a 27-year-old striker who’s scored nine goals in 15 League One appearances this season for Pompey.
After joining the South Coast outfit in the summer of 2022, he’s scored 39 goals across all competitions, including 20 League One goals last season.
He started his career at Notts County, where he came through the academy ranks before leaving the club in 2016. He then dropped down the divisions to sign for Worcester City in the search of regular first-team football. He’d remain at Worcester for a season before joining fellow non-league side Boston United in 2017. The striker then moved onto Leamington, where he remained for two years before getting a crack at EFL football in 2019.
Bishop joined League One side Accrington Stanley in the summer of 2019 and scored 12 goals in 31 appearances during his first season at EFL level. He backed that up in 2020/21 when he scored another 12 goals before scoring 14 in 2021/22 as he earned a move to Pompey.
According to Sofascore, Bishop has averaged 3.3 shots per game, with 1.6 of those shots being on target. He has a scoring frequency of every 150 minutes this season. Nine of his goals this season have been scored with his right foot, with two scored with his head.
Given his somewhat untraditional route to the EFL, it’s no surprise that Bishop is a hard worker, one of his main strengths being high pressing.
Has there been much interest in Colby Bishop?
It’s a little odd, considering his strong performance for Pompey, that there’s been no real interest in Bishop.
But come January, there’s no doubt that a lot of scouting teams will have him on their radar.
Portsmouth News reported in the summer that Pompey would have needed to pay between £3.5 and £4 million to even consider offers to get the striker to leave Fratton Park.
Should Stansfield depart Birmingham in January, the Portsmouth man would be a good substitute, depending on funding.
Leave a Reply