Birmingham City held off the advances of Stoke City for Cameron Jerome on transfer deadline day while completing the capture of Obafemi Martins.

And the Birmingham Mail can reveal that last week the Robbie Keane deal was revived and only thwarted by the player’s rejection.

Stoke firmed-up their interest in Jerome by offering Ricardo Fuller plus £1 million, and then a straight £4.5m.

But Blues rebuffed their proposals and Jerome was happy to stay at St Andrew’s.

This was going on while Blues successfully gained a work permit for Nigerian striker Martins and put the finishing touches to a loan from Russian side Rubin Kazan.

Blues have an option to buy for around £5m should the former Newcastle United forward prove a success, and relegation is avoided.

Blues had inquired about Stoke’s Tuncay previously, but he was already well down the road to a move to Steve McClaren’s Wolfsburg.

“Coming back to England, it’s a really good thing, I’m very, very excited,” said Martins.

“The Premier League is one of the best leagues in the whole world and I’ve played in it for three years – and the 150 million people in Nigeria wanted me back in it too.