Town boss Mick McCarthy says he couldn’t believe midfielder Kevin Bru’s ability when he joined the club on trial in the summer. The 25-year-old impressed during that spell and won a one-year contract with an option for a further season.
Having quickly broken into the side, Bru has now made seven starts and four sub appearances and has been one of the Blues’ top performers in recent games.
Yesterday, he was named in the Football League's Team of the Week following his performance against Watford on Saturday in which he was involved in the well-worked set piece which led to the winning goal.
"I couldn’t believe he walked through the door with the ability he looked like he had in training and in the pre-season friendlies,” McCarthy recalled.
"I thought the same about Balint Bajner in the pre-season friendlies and he’s found it tough.
"He’s improving in training, but he openly admits that he was never used to getting battered like he does against Christophe Berra, Chambo and Tommy Smith in training. He was the big fella that could do things.
"He’s sort of stalled a bit but is doing all right in training and getting better, but Kevin Bru has just been great when he’s played.
"I thought he was excellent at Derby when he played in behind and I thought he was terrific against Wolves. Whenever he’s played he’s looked a really good Championship player.”
Bru, who was with the French elite national football centre at Clairfontaine as a youngster, first broke through into senior football with Rennes, with whom he made two Ligue 1 sub appearances in the 2006/07 season.
The Parisian continued his career in the French second division, spending time on loan at Châteauroux and Clermont Foot before joining Dijon FCO on a permanent basis in January 2010.
He moved on to US Boulogne a year later and then spent 2012/13 with FC Istres.
Last season, after a reported £200,000 move, he scored one goal in 26 appearances in Bulgaria with Levski Sofia, featuring in their two Europa League qualifying round games, before leaving at the end of the campaign.
Having won U18 and U19 caps with France, Bru switched international allegiance in 2011 and has won two caps with Mauritius, for whom he qualifies via his parents.
McCarthy revealed that it was a former Norwich loanee now working as an agent in France who recommended Bru to Town.
"I’m prepared to take people in and have a look at them,” he continued. "The irony is that it was Antoine Sibierski, the ex-Norwich player, who brought him in. Good lad!
"He said ‘Would you have a look at this lad?’. We had a look at him on our systems and TC said ‘Gaffer, he looks like a good player, he’s technically good’, so I said ‘OK, we’ll have a look’, and he brought him in.
"I’ve had thousands of players come in over the years and I’ve had a look at them and you go ‘Thanks, but no thanks’.
"But you’ve got to keep doing it if you’re where we are and sometimes you get… not lucky so much as it’s part of the job. It’s not lucky if somebody rings you up and you say ‘Yes, we’ll have a look’, they bring him in, he trains, he plays and then you have to make a decision on them, and I thought Kevin was well worth signing.”