Bela was a target for Blues in the summer but his contractual dispute with Albacete meant that his move to St Andrew’s went cold.
That contractual dispute was still apparently on going as late as Saturday, with Cadiz apparently put off from signing the 26-year-old Frenchman.
Logic dictates that if Blues have sorted out signing Bela then it’s taken a while – simply because of the legal situation that Bela found himself in.
While I think that the signing of Bela – a pacy winger / forward – is what Blues need right now, I also believe that the fact that Blues have managed to seemingly complete it under the radar is a bigger story.
This might sound counter-intuitive bearing in mind I’ve published transfer emails where I have speculated on transfers, but I actually believe that this is a good thing.
It is hard to keep anything secret in football; people talk about things and rumours leak out. It doesn’t even have to be someone from the club; players talk to agents who share information; outside contractors can overhear things – there are many ways for information to get out.
With this transfer, I would assume it would be imperative to keep things quiet and in house so that everything could be sorted before other clubs were alerted.
The fact that it looks like Blues have been able to do that shows how much progression the club has made recently with transfers.
I have been critical of the board in the past but I believe that it’s right and proper to praise where things have been done properly and from outward appearances this is a good example of that.
I think things are going to be similar in the winter window too.
Pep Clotet has made mention that the club has identified targets and are now sorting out tying them up – but no names have been mentioned.
From what I know, transfers are solely being handled now by club CEO Ren Xuandong and Kristjaan Speakman, who appears to be Sporting Director in all but name.
If Ren and Speakman can wrap up those transfers under the radar in the same way – and at this moment I have no reason to believe that they can’t – then surely that would be a good thing for the club.
I know that some people have me down as a bit of a doommonger, but I’m hoping it’s just possible that Blues have learned from some of their mistakes of the past and are now doing things in a proper manner.
Maybe, this Bela transfer is a sign of really good things to come.