Birmingham are targeting Italian striker Fabrizio Miccoli after learning of his ambition to play Premier League football. The 30-year-old has been targeted to form a little and large partnership with Nikola Zigic, reports the Birmingham Mail.

The Blues have opened lines of communication with his club about a £4 million deal.

The former Juventus forward netted 19 times for Palermo, putting him joint third in the Italian scoring charts behind Antonio Di Natale and Diego Milito.

However, Walter Sabatini, the Palermo director, was not so accomodating.

"A request from Birmingham is real, but we have already said that we are not interested; in fact, I consider it not to be an issue," he said.