Blues linked with Alan Hutton move

Birmingham are being linked with a £6million move for Tottenham full-back Alan Hutton with manager Alex McLeish still hopeful of adding new signings this month.

Hutton has fallen out-of-favour at White Hart Lane and would provide competition in the position for Stephen Carr.

Matt Derbyshire this week joined giant Serbian striker Nikola Zigic, goalkeeper Ben Foster and midfielder Enric Valles as summer imports to St Andrew's after agreeing a season-long loan from Greek side Olympiacos.

And McLeish has assured supporters there is plenty going on behind the scenes in the quest to bring in new faces.

He said: "I'm trying to get the squad up to 25. We are working towards it for before the window closes. We still plan to bring a player or two in.

"We're making enquiries about certain situations and we've also had a big list of players, one or two that we've lost out on and one or two that we've decided to pass on and it'll keep going for a while.

"From last season's team photo I think there's 10 who have left the club so it's a case of filling the squad up and making sure it's not just number, but the quality of people to augment the squad.

"I can't guarantee that everything will be in place but if it's not then that's a challenge for the players at the club to show that they can do what they did last year."

McLeish confirmed Derbyshire will make his debut tomorrow against Blackburn Rovers, the club he left for Olympiacos last January, after Birmingham received international clearance for the 24-year-old.

The Blues boss said: "Matt is in the squad. We won't name the team until Friday but we must get Matt into the action.

"He's fit enough, he's looked bright in training and he'll be involved at some stage. He's got an eye for a goal and he's very sharp in and around the box.

"We believe we're getting a mature Matt Derbyshire and we're looking forward to working with him."

Blues go into tomorrow's clash defending an 11-month unbeaten record on home soil and McLeish is hoping they can pick up where they left off.

But the manager knows it will not be easy against a team who began the season in impressive fashion with a 1-0 victory over Everton last weekend.

He said: "We got away with a good point at a very difficult away venue. Sunderland played very well against us in the first-half, but I'd like to think there'll be a big improvement.

"Blackburn are a tough nut to crack. They had a fantastic result against Everton last week. Their confidence will be high.

"We've got to try to show the form we showed last season at St Andrew's."