Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish is planning a £500,000 bid for Celtic defender Bobo Balde.

The Mirror says McLeish is keen to rebuild his defence next month with on loan Johan Djourou returning to Arsenal and Martin Taylor out of the first-team picture.

Balde, 32, has slipped out of Gordon Strachan's plans at Celtic and would be available. But the only drawback for McLeish is that Balde has just been named in the Guinea squad for the African Nations Cup meaning he will be unavailable early in the New Year.