Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has failed in his attempts to sign Lazio central defender Guglielmo Stendardo on loan.The former Scotland coach is looking to strengthen his backline and has been heavily linked with a move for Aston Villa's Gary Cahill.

But he had also lined up a move for Stendardo, and the Blues had been in talks with both his talks and his agent in a bid to secure the deal.

They have come to nothing, though, as Lazio won't let him leave now.

McLeish told the Birmingham Mail: "The Stendardo guy, who we were looking at bringing on loan, won't be happening.

"Lazio have got a bit of an injury crisis right now. He won't be going anywhere.

"The reason we were considering him on loan and not making a commitment to his club was that we didn't know enough about him.

"I did the diligence on him, I spoke to contacts in Italy, and I felt it was right we should try to get him on loan first.

"While I have got a centre-back problem, I have got to commend Liam Ridgewell and Rafael Schmitz.

"They've done very well together. While they are two left-footers - and yet nobody has got any problem playing two right-footers - they have combined. They have been very, very good but I do have a problem if one of them goes down."

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