Alex McLeish will get one last look at midfield target Miguel Marcos Madera tomorrow before deciding whether to make a move for the Spaniard.

Birmingham City take on Sporting Gijon at St Andrew’s (3pm kick-off) in their final pre-season game tomorrow before the start of the Premier League next weekend.

Whether it was intentional or just a coincidence, long-time target Madera, commonly known as Michel, is likely to be playing for the visitors, giving McLeish the ideal opportunity to see how he compares to his current stock of midfielders.

Michel, Gijon’s vice-captain and their player-of-the-season for the past two years, was last week revealed as the mystery Spanish midfielder that Birmingham had been tracking throughout the summer.

The highly-rated 23-year-old, who is also believed to be attracting interest from Valencia, Malaga and Espanol back in his homeland, was watched by Birmingham’s joint first-team coach, Andy Watson, last Wednesday before McLeish saw him in the flesh for himself on Sunday.

Now, as the Blues hope to sign Michel for a fee lower than Gijon’s €5.5 million valuation, the club’s management and fans will be able to gauge further opinion on the Asturias-born player on their home soil.

However tomorrow’s warm-up match, Birmingham’s only home fixture of the off-season, won’t just be a chance for the club and Michel to familiarise themselves with each other. It will be an opportunity for Birmingham to boost morale ahead of next weekend’s trip to Manchester United after an unconvincing run of pre-season fixtures.

Sporting Gijon finished 14th in La Liga last season, one point outside of the relegation zone, and have already enjoyed victory in a Basque-based three-team tournament where they beat hosts Portugalete and Athletic Bilbao.

Birmingham will be unable to field their strongest side as they have as many as eight first-team players likely to be sidelined through injury.

To make matters worse, the club’s recent injury curse even extended to their youth ranks on Wednesday night, with centre-back Jacob Rowe missing the 3-1 warm-up defeat to Tamworth with a nose problem, while fellow defender Dan Preston was forced off after 25 minutes with a serious knee injury.

n Hull have completed the double signings of Seyi Olofinjana from Stoke and USA striker Jozy Altidore.

Midfielder Olofinjana has joined on a four-year contract for a £3 million fee, with Altidore arriving on a season-long loan from Villarreal, subject to a work permit.

The pair are Hull’s first signings of the summer after failing in pursuit of a number of other targets.

Manager Phil Brown said: “I’m over the moon at the fact we have at long last managed to get one or two players into the camp.

“One area we needed to address was goals from midfield and I’m hoping Seyi can help out there.

“Jozy is unproven at this level but has great potential and we hope can fill the void of goals from the front line.”

Olofinjana, 29, joined Stoke from Wolves a year ago but fell down the pecking order after starting the club’s first 13 games in the Barclays Premier League.

Altidore, 19, is highly regarded in the US and shone in the recent Confederations Cup.

His deal includes an option to buy next summer. A hearing over his application for a work permit is due to be heard on Monday.