The Championship trio were ‘keen’ on signing the sought-after winger, but he turned down their offers.
Due to their Premier League promotion goals, each of Leicester City, Southampton, and Birmingham City finalized deals on transfer deadline day.
Leicester acquired Julian Carranza from Feyenoord on loan, Southampton secured Leo Scienza at the cost of Paris FC, and Birmingham brought in Patrick Roberts on loan from Sunderland.
However, the Championship trio were “interested” in an underutilized Premier League player but were all rebuffed before the summer transfer window closed.
Bournemouth’s Romain Faivre rejected Leicester, Southampton, and Birmingham:
After all 24 Championship clubs wrapped up their business, several teams were relieved not to lose key players for the 2025/26 season.
Some of the deadline day deals that didn’t materialize included Gustavo Hamer’s departure from Sheffield United and Hyunjun Yang’s unsuccessful switch from Celtic to the Blues.
In addition to those, another Championship transfer that fell through before the deadline involved Bournemouth winger Romain Faivre.
According to the BBC, the Cherries paid a £12.8m fee to FC Lorient for Faivre’s services in the summer of 2023, but the Frenchman has struggled to make an impression at the Vitality Stadium.
Following loans back to Lorient and with Brest, Faivre seemed poised for a move this summer, and reports have surfaced that the winger “declined” talks with the aforementioned second-tier trio.
Sky Sports News reporter Mark McAdam revealed on X: “Romain Faivre’s last minute move to Verona fell through because the player had a change of heart.
“Leicester, Southampton, Birmingham and Copenhagen were all clubs that expressed an interest in signing the 27-year-old; but he declined the opportunity to speak to them.”
With Faivre scoring just three goals and providing three assists in 32 matches on loan at Ligue 1 Brest last season, each of the three interested clubs have avoided a pricey and uncertain transfer.
Birmingham City have made the right call to sign Patrick Roberts after Romain Faivre snub:
Following the rejection from Faivre, the Blues swiftly pursued other options on the right flank with the loan signing of Black Cats star Roberts.
Birmingham outmaneuvered Derby County for Roberts due to Chris Davies’ prior connection with the former Celtic loanee, and it’s clear the Blues made the correct choice.
With Transfermarkt reporting that Faivre’s value stands at the £5.2m mark, the Blues would have had to pay a substantial sum for the Frenchman.
However, Birmingham have acquired a player in Roberts without a transfer fee, who delivered more combined goal contributions last season than Faivre.
With Roberts’ contract at the Stadium of Light expiring next summer, if he performs as strongly as he did last season during Sunderland’s promotion to the top flight, there’s potential for the move to become permanent for free after this season.
All these factors suggest Birmingham completed a far more financially prudent signing with the loan capture of the Black Cats’ fan-favorite.