Blues worried about Djourou

Birmingham boss Johan Djourou has admitted he is worried that Arsenal may soon recall their Swiss defender Djourou as Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue disappear for the African Nations. Djourou has impressed since his temporary move to Blues in the summer.

Bruce, who is hoping to meet Yeung this weekend, said: "You are thinking ahead to January already. Will Djourou go back to Arsenal? With Kolo Toure probably be needed for the African Nations Cup? That could well happen.

"If he goes back, there's a big decision we've got to try and sort out. Johan has shown already he is a class act.

"We've lost Borja Oubina through injury for the season. A midfielder of his type is what we needed. He lasted 10 to 11 minutes at Liverpool but you could see he had something.

"There is Mikael Forssell and the injury problems he has had. That is another one to be addressed. Then of course you've got people drifting out of contract like Mehdi Nafti who need to be sorted for the future.

"All of those issues as a manager you try to put into place. You try to do your homework now and say 'that's what we need'.

"You might need a centre-half, a central midfielder, a striker. But you can't do anything at the moment."