Blues boss Paul Jewell says Town fans saw only a glimpse of what new signing Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is capable of during last night’s abandoned goalless game at Colchester and believes the 20-year-old will get better as he gets fitter and settles in at his new club. The Londoner joined Town for an initial fee of £1.5 million rising to £2 million from Arsenal yesterday.
Jewell said: "I think you could see flashes [at Colchester], but we’ve got to be careful, he’s played at Blackpool, Doncaster and Cardiff on loan before, but he’s one for the future.
"He’s not 100% fit, you could see that, he’s missed a lot of training over the last week or so. He will get fitter, he will get better and he will be a good player, no doubt about that.”
The Town manager, who played the versatile youngster up front in a role just behind Michael Chopra at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, is keen not to put too much pressure on the man known as JET at his former club: "I think we don’t want to heap too much on the young boy’s shoulders, even though they’re big shoulders. We don’t expect that every time he gets the ball he has to score a goal.”
Reflecting on the Colchester performance overall, Jewell didn’t appear too concerned with his side’s dearth of chances and absence of goals: "There’s a lot of work for us to do in the midfield and the full-back areas. Creativity was a problem last year, but I’m sure it won’t be this year.”