Birmingham give Newcastle permission for Sebastian Larsson talks

Birmingham hope to complete Tottenham winger David Bentley's loan deal in the next 24 hours, subject to him passing a medical.

But Sebastian Larsson - the player Bentley could replace if he leaves - may soon be heading out of St Andrew's with Newcastle given permission to speak to the Sweden international.

City manager Alex McLeish has not given up hope of signing Rangers striker Kenny Miller, who is also a target for Fiorentina.

McLeish confirmed: "Bentley is doing a medical. It might run into two days.

"It will be good to sign him because He has got a bit of quality and class as a footballer.

"His delivery at set-pieces is excellent as well. He is a natural footballer."

Larsson is out of contract in the summer and a new offer from Blues has remained unsigned.

McLeish said: "The latest with Seb is we gave his advisor permission to speak to Newcastle.

"Other than that, I've heard nothing.

"We came to a kind of impasse (over a new contract).

"I know Seb would like to stay but we'll just have to wait and see. There is nothing I can really add to that."

McLeish worked with Miller when in charge of Scotland and would like to know sooner rather than later if he wants to move to Blues.

He said: "We have an agreement with Rangers and we are talking to Kenny. He's also got an offer from Italy.

"I know he is talking about coming back to the Premier League or possibly going to Italy so we will probably ask Kenny for a quick decision.

"I think he's had the offer from Fiorentina. I don't want to talk about Kenny's business but we made an offer, Rangers accepted it and we await Kenny's answer."