Christian Benitez has five games left to rescue his Birmingham future, reports the Daily Mirror. Otherwise the 23-year-old striker, nicknamed Chucho, will find his career at St Andrew's over when his loan deal from Mexican club Santos Llaguna runs out in May.

Ecuador international Benitez was part of the Birmingham side that put together the club's longest Premier League unbeaten run, but under the terms of a deal done by previous co-owner David Sullivan it will cost them £6.5million to keep him.

And a return of two goals from 27 Premier League appearances has left Blues boss Alex McLeish wondering if he'd get better value elsewhere.

McLeish admitted: "We have an option to buy him in May and we'll have a good think about that."

Birmingham's boss says he won't rotate his team even though they are now safe.

He said: "That's not because we owe anything to the Premier League. I owe it to myself because that's the kind of character I am."