Source: Daily_Mail
Birmingham want Spurs star O'Hara as £2.5m Michel deal hits the buffers
Birmingham City are trailing Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara after their move to sign Sporting Gijon's Michel continued to stall.
The newly-promoted Barclays Premier League side have been trying to thrash out a £2.5m deal for 23-year-old Michel for the last month but have so far been unable to agree payment terms for the deal.
Manager Alex McLeish said: 'The stumbling block has been money and the payments to be made.'
McLeish is looking at alternative targets and Aston Villa's Craig Gardner has been considered but is out of Birmingham's price range.
O'Hara, 22, has now been targeted, although it remains to be seen whether Spurs boss Harry Redknapp will want to part with the promising midfielder, who he singled out for special praise after their Carling Cup cruise at Doncaster on Wednesday.
McLeish, meanwhile, has defended his decision to turndown Wilson Palacios who became a £12million player when moving fromWigan to Tottenham.
Birmingham will face Honduran Palacios on Saturday at White HartLane and McLeish, who turned down the option to sign him in 2007, said:'I saw Wilson play in a Birmingham cup game against Banbury and helooked OK. Nothing more than that.'
