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Carsley completes Birmingham City switch

03/06/2008

Lee Carsley has passed a medical at Birmingham City to finalise his move from Everton on a free transfer.

The 34-year-old former Toffees midfielder was a first-team regular for David Moyes' side last season.

But he turned down a new contract on Merseyside in order to move closer to his family near Birmingham.

And his move to Blues is now a certainty after he successfully completed a series of tests at the club to ascertain his physical fitness ahead of signing the contract.

Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish, who initially made an approach for the player last month, claimed the signing of Carsley shows the relegated club are looking to bounce straight back into the Premier League next season.

The former Scotland boss claims the new addition is "a statement of intent" for the St Andrews outfit, who will be hoping to challenge at the top of the Championship next season.

"This is a great signing for us and I'm very excited about working with Lee and I'm sure the Blues fans will love to see him in the jersey of Birmingham City FC," McLeish told the club's official website in May.

"Our mission is to get right back to the Premier League at the first year of asking and Lee has got magnificent Premier League experience.

"I've got big plans for the club and I hope that Lee can help us go to another level and of course that other level would be the Premier League.

"But we know we face a fantastically competitive Championship and there will be many, many teams looking to try and get to where we want to go as well, so we will give it total respect."

Carsley will officially sign when his existing deal at Goodison Park runs out at the end of June.

His move will then be completed when the summer transfer window opens on July 1st.