Birmingham City have begun talks with Dutch midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld after meeting a release clause in his contract at Eredivisie side FC Groningen.
The Dutch club confirmed on their official website that club captain Kieftenbeld, 25, was on his way to Birmingham to discuss personal terms with the Championship side.
His current contract had just one year left to run and Groningen are expected to rather cash in on one of their prized assets than lose him for free next summer, and he has thus been left out of today's squad for a friendly with fellow Dutch side Roda JC.
Kieftenbeld worked his way up the Dutch footballing ladder
Beginning his youth career with local minnows Lemelerveld in the East of the country, Kieftenbeld spent some time with FC Twente before finally making the step up to first team football with Go Ahead Eagles in 2008.
His performances for the second division side earned him a €300,000 move to Groningen in 2010, and he has since gone on to make almost 150 league appearances for the club, scoring just twice.
The versatile midfielder also has five youth international caps for his native Netherlands, though he has never made a senior appearance for the Oranje despite leading his side to a KNVB Cup win in the 2014/15 season.
With that cup success granting Groningen qualification to the group stages of the 2015/16 Europa League, his capture would arguably represent something of a coup for side which spent last season battling at the wrong end of the table in English football's second tier.
A summer of little transfer activity at Birmingham so far
Should he complete the transfer, he would be the first player to arrive at St Andrew's this season for a transfer fee, following the acquisitions of Jacques Maghoma, Alex Jones and goalkeeping pair Tomasz Kuszczak and Adam Legzdins on free transfers.
Meanwhile, he would be the second Groningen player to make the switch to the Championship in recent days, with former teammate Tjaronn Chery recently completing a move to Queens Park Rangers.
The Blues begin the Championship season at home to Reading on August 8th, before travelling to Bristol Rovers and relegated Burnley in the Capital One Cup and league respectively.