Alex McLeish admits he may struggle to lure Armand Traore to Birmingham City Football Club.

The Blues are desperate to sign a left-back before they head to Old Trafford on the opening weekend of the new season, to take on champions Manchester United.

McLeish would love to take Traore from Arsenal on a season-long loan deal, but he admits his chances aren’t looking good due to the Gunners current injury worries.

"I don't want to upset Arsene Wenger by speaking (about Traore)," said McLeish. "I also see he has got a couple of injuries himself, like Gael Clichy, so I hope that's not ominous.

"We've got other targets, but we want to bring in a bit of quality for the position. It's not a bottomless pit in terms of the money and we'd try to structure a deal on maybe a loan.

"I'm not talking necessarily about Traore, there's one or two options. It's better that I don't talk about other people's players. All that does is upset the Birmingham fans when we don't get them."