Birmingham make final Larsson play

Birmingham City are set to offer Swedish midfielder Sebastian Larsson a new contract in a final bid to keep him at the club.

Larsson is out of contract at the end of the season and could leave St Andrews on a free transfer if he does not sign an extension with the West Midlands club.

Birmingham have so far failed to reach an agreement with the 25-year-old, who is free to speak to European clubs in January about a possible move six months before his contract expires.

Newcastle and Stoke are two English Premier League clubs said to be keen on offering Larsson terms, though Birmingham boss Alex McLeish knows only foreign clubs can approach the midfielder.

“The only people who can approach Seb in January are from abroad,” McLeish said.

“The rules are that English clubs can’t court him. We want Seb to stay, no doubt about it, but at the end of the day it will be up to the player himself.”

“The club are making a new offer to Seb’s representative.”

Birmingham are just two points clear of the relegation zone and McLeish insisted his squad will be desperate to atone for Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Wolves at Molineux when they host Newcastle on Saturday.

To do that, they must beat a Newcastle side who marked Alan Pardew’s first game in charge with a superb 3-1 victory against Liverpool on Saturday.

“I’m looking for a reaction,” McLeish said. “I’m looking for that bounce-back-ability side of things again – the players have been pretty good at that.”

“They were disappointed with their level last week and I could tell as early as Monday when one or two came in for extra training.”

“We are at home and fancy ourselves. We have a squad full of players chomping at the bit to start a game. Our players want to atone for a bad performance.”

Defender Liam Ridgewell missed the defeat against Wolves with an illness and looks set to return against Newcastle, but on-loan midfielder Alexander Hleb is still recovering from a hamstring injury and will not line up against Newcastle.