Boss Kieran McKenna says new midfielder Panutche Camara still has a way to go before he’s at his best having made his Blues debut as a half-time sub at Cambridge in the Papa Johns Trophy on Tuesday.

Panutche joined Town from Plymouth on deadline day with a groin problem having last played for Argyle in mid-April.

“It wasn’t ideal circumstances for his debut, to be fair, in terms of wanting him to come on the pitch and being able to play in our normal system with the normal passing options and connection options around him,” McKenna said, Town having been reduced to 10 men following Kyle Edwards’s 17th-minute red card.

“It was a little bit different for him, but it was just about getting the minutes, really. He’s not trained very much and the game was a little bit soon in terms of what we would normally want for a player in terms of training sessions coming into it.

“But it was too good of an opportunity in terms of the context of the group and the low-key nature of the game and to be able to get him in the kit and get him out there playing.

“It was great for him to get the 45, and now he needs to continue working and keep building up his levels in training and in games and keep working in that direction.”

Is the 25-year-old Guinea-Bissau international ready for League One involvement? “We’ll make a decision on that game by game. I still think he’s got a little way to go to get to his best level, quite a long way to go.

“We put him in the game the other night because it was such a good opportunity to get minutes with the group being almost done and it was low pressure game that was a nice one to come into, or certainly would have been a nicer one had we had 11 players.

“But he’s still behind on his training, he’s only trained with us for a few days at the back end of last week, he’s missed a lot of football, it was his first competitive match for six months or so.

“He’s got some work to do to get to his best level and that’s training and match minutes and possibly some involvement with the U21s over the next couple of weeks to build up some minutes there as well.

“He’s here for having an impact over the course of the whole season, so it’s about doing the right things over the next couple of weeks to give him the best chance to do that.”

Camara is set to feature for the U21s in their game against Bristol City at Playford Road on Friday afternoon (KO 2pm).

Steve Waller

Linkboy13 added 16:27 - Oct 20 McKenna seems keen to get him into the first team squad as quickly as possible so he must rate him very highly.
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billlm added 19:17 - Oct 20 He's a very good player, in the top 5 in league one last year,
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Nomore4 added 19:18 - Oct 20 We took Pompeys best player. Harness. We took Plymouth's best player. Camara.
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Nomore4 added 20:09 - Oct 20 I have massive hopes for Camara. KMCK got in front of Championship clubs to get him…..knowing he was injured and unavailable for 1st 3 months at least.
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Bazza8564 added 13:58 - Oct 21 What pleases me most about this is the fact KM steadfastly refuses to compromise principles and just chuck him in. He explains the what and the why and it all feels so thoroughly professional. With Morsy and Evans rapidly racking up the bookings we will need Pan as the season matures, great that his introduction is being managed so thoughtfully.
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