Geraldo Bajrami

Geraldo Bajrami (born 24 September 1999) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for National League North club Kidderminster Harriers. He came through the youth system at Birmingham City, and made his EFL Championship debut in 2019. He spent time on loan at Solihull Moors of the National League in 2020, and was released in 2021. Bajrami was born in England to Albanian parents, and has represented Albania at under-21 level.

Club Career

Bajrami was born in Birmingham in 1999, just two weeks after his Albanian parents left Kosovo because of the war. He was raised in the Quinton district and attended Priory School in Edgbaston. He had two unsuccessful trials with Birmingham City's Academy before he was accepted at under-14 level, and took up a two-year scholarship in July 2016. Academy coach Steve Spooner described him as "quite an unassuming young man but is very much a leader and is very popular with the rest of the players."

He captained the club's under-18 team that reached the semifinal of the 2017–18 FA Youth Cup, performing well in a defensive partnership with Ryan Stirk against a very strong Chelsea side, and signed his first professional contract, of one year, at the end of the season. He went on to captain Birmingham's under-23 team in 2018–19, making 36 appearances over the season, as they finished as runners-up in the Professional Development League northern section and lost out to Leeds United on penalties for the overall title. He was offered a two-year deal in March 2019, and signed it in late June.

A hernia operation at the end of the season meant that Bajrami missed out on the first-team's pre-season fixtures. He was fit to make his competitive debut in the EFL Cup first round on 6 August 2019. Manager Pep Clotet fielded an inexperienced team for the visit to Portsmouth, and Bajrami played the whole of the 3–0 defeat. With Marc Roberts and Jake Clarke-Salter injured, he made his Football League debut on 14 December 2019, partnering Harlee Dean in central defen