Birmingham City agree to sign defender

Jun 9 2009 By Andy Walker

Espinoza will become the second Ecuadorian to arrive at St Andrew’s following the capture of his compatriot Christian Benitez a week ago, and the third in recent months following Ulises de la Cruz’s short spell at Blues at the end of last season. And Guerrero, who also revealed that Blues originally showed interest in Espinoza six months ago but were waiting to see whether they secured promotion before making a move, admitted his client is relishing the opportunity to play in England.

“We are just working on a visa for Espinoza and we also have to wait for Ecuador’s match with Argentina,” said Guerrero.

“As soon as Birmingham were promoted to the Premier League, we were waiting for the call.

“I know that Espinoza is really happy and his family are also very happy to be moving from Ecuador to Birmingham.

“He is a great player and is the captain of his club at the moment, he’s the best player in their team but the chance to play in the Premier League is a dream for him.”

Espinoza is a vastly experienced stopper having chalked up 84 caps for Ecuador, including appearances at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.

He signed for his current club in January having previously played for Ecuadorian clubs Aucas and LDU Quito, Mexican outfit Monterrey, Brazilian side Cruzeiro as well as a year-long stint in Holland with Vitesse.

Elsewhere, Oguchi Onyewu’s representative, Lyle Yorks, has insisted the American defender’s move to Blues is not imminent and that negotiations are still on-going.

Onyewu’s most recent club Standard Liege, where the 27-year-old’s contract expires at the end of this month, had issued a report on their website that the ex-Newcastle loanee was set to sign a three-year deal at St Andrew’s.

However, Yorks has insisted: “This is not true. We are only in discussions at this point.”