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West Ham striker Paul Kitson is set to join First Division Birmingham.

Blues manager Trevor Francis moved for the former Leicester, Derby and Newcastle frontman following injury to summer signing Geoff Horsfield.

Francis has been involved in talks with West Ham manager Harry Redknapp about signing Kitson since the weekend and hopes the player will make his debut against Sheffield United on Saturday.

Blues have not confirmed how much they will pay the Hammers for Kitson but revealed in a statement "the player's package will be in excess of £2.2million".

Francis told Clubcall: "I can confirm that we have been talking to West Ham about the possibility of bringing Paul Kitson to the club.

"At the moment my main target is Paul Kitson. There are one or two others that I had considered but that's the number one that I have been concentrating on."

Francis sees the move for a new player as a positive step after recently falling out with club backer David Sullivan.

Francis and Sullivan were involved in a war of words with the manager claiming he was the subject of a campaign to oust him from the club.

But when the board met with Francis to discuss the move for Kitson they also cleared the air between Francis and Sullivan.

Francis said: "I have met with the board and we had a full and frank discussion about various things, including the article that David Sullivan recently put into a newspaper. We have cleared the air and we are going on with things in a positive way."

Sullivan has also agreed to bury the hatchet after sitting down with Francis just days after accusing the manager of having a pessimistic outlook and talking down his players.

Sullivan said: "I have got a lot of things off my chest and, following the meeting yesterday, we have agreed a positive way forward.

"We have invested £29million in players since Trevor joined us and, with the increasing out-of-control wages, we are really spending money that we do not have. However, our aim and wish is to back the manager and get us into the Premier League and we have dug deep to give Trevor the tools he needs to do that."

Club chairman David Gold, who acted as mediator between Francis and Sullivan, said: "A lot has been made of witch hunts and rumours that Trevor Francis is leaving. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Giving backing to the manager in words is one thing but giving it in money like we are doing is another."

	Check for more on: Birmingham West Ham Soccer

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