Birmingham City's Alex McLeish has admitted he may have made a mistake in not signing midfielder Wilson Palacios. Palacios was signed on loan for the first half of the campaign from Olimpia by the then Blues manager Steve Bruce.

He was available in a £700,000 deal when the transfer window re-opened four months ago.

But Bruce left for Wigan Athletic in December and took Palacios to the JJB Stadium after his replacement McLeish decided against signing the Honduras international who suffered the trauma of his brother being kidnapped in his homeland. Palacios has since impressed in the Latics midfield.

McLeish was then unsuccessful in signing Portsmouth's Sean Davis and Teemu Tainio, of Tottenham Hotspur, while a work permit was not obtained for Georgian international Levan Tskitishvili to leave him lacking options in midfield.