Birmingham boss Alex McLeish admits he is concerned over who will fill the left-back role with the new Barclays Premier League campaign barely a fortnight away.

McLeish has brought in eight players this summer in revamping his squad after steering Blues to promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship. But the left-back berth is his biggest worry because of injuries and his failure to so far bring in his number one target for the slot - Arsenal's Armand Traore, whom he wants to sign on loan.

The experienced duo of the club's player of the year, Franck Queudrue (calf strain), and David Murphy (fractured knee cap) are currently sidelined. Stuart Parnaby has switched from right-back to fill in during the majority of pre-season but he suffered a groin strain during Wednesday's win over Dagenham and Redbridge and was substituted.

McLeish said: "Left-back is a position where we're trying to fill. We have been linked with players from other clubs and I won't mention any names but it is something we are looking at. It is a position that needs to be strengthened because we can't go into the Premier League against Manchester United in our opening game with right-backs playing at left-back.

"Franck is not ready to come back in. He feels he needs games but we want to get him to that level of fitness of last year when he ended up getting the player of the season."

Queudrue also underwent a hernia operation in the summer which caused him to miss the start of pre-season training.