Sam Cosgrove was a big-money signing in 2021 by the Blues, but he’s now struggling for form and minutes at his new club
With Birmingham City struggling for goals in January 2021, the club swooped late in the mid-season transfer window for a player who had scored only one goal in eight appearances for Carlisle United three years previously.
The original goal was Hibernian striker Kevin Nisbet, but after failing to reach an agreement for the Edinburgh club, City shifted their focus to Aberdeen’s towering attacker Sam Cosgrove.
The 6 ft 4 in striker, who had a 14-match goalless loan spell with North Ferriby United of the National League six months before joining Carlisle in 2017, had progressed wonderfully in Scotland, and he’d scored 44 goals in the previous two full seasons for the Dons before his mid-season switch to Andrew’s.
Sam Cosgrove’s Birmingham City career—where did it go wrong?
City paid a big £2 million fee to Aberdeen for Cosgrove, who was 24 years of age at the time, but there was of course no guarantee that he would make the step up to the Championship, with the level of the Scottish Premiership at times often derided.
Aitor Karanka was the man that signed Cosgrove, but four appearances into his time in the Midlands, the forward saw the Spaniard sacked and left the new recruit with an uncertain future under new boss Lee Bowyer.
And it was clear that Cosgrove was not fancied by him, as he was sent out on loan to Shrewsbury for the first half of 2021–22 and then spent the second half of it at AFC Wimbledon. It was a similar situation under John Eustace last season, as he was sent to Plymouth for the entire campaign, where he won a promotion from League One and scored eight times but didn’t start much for Steven Schumacher.
It was clear that the 26-year-old needed a fresh start for his career this summer, and by the end of the transfer window, he got that with Barnsley and Neil Collins coming in for him—but how is he getting on at Oakwell?
How is Sam Cosgrove getting on for Barnsley?
Cosgrove was supposed to be having a fresh start in South Yorkshire, but it’s not quite happened so far for the target man.
In his seven League One appearances for the Tykes so far, Cosgrove has started just once, although before that he did come off the bench against Portsmouth in a 3-2 defeat to grab an assist, which led to his start against Northampton.
In a 1-1 draw with Leyton Orient a few weeks ago, he was sent off in second-half stoppage time, and he hasn’t featured in the last two league squads since his ban ended.
Cosgrove did play in the FA Cup replay with Horsham earlier in the week, but with Devante Cole flying and Barnsley boss Collins having other attacking options to pair up with, it doesn’t look like the ex-Birmingham man will get regular game time—at least for the time being.
He’s going to have to show something special in training to get back into Collins’ plans, you’d think, but whether that happens remains to be seen. It’s been a slow start, however, and the Beverley-born striker may be regretting the switch for now, and he’s certainly not proving City wrong.
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