Boss Mick McCarthy is delighted with the start striker Brett Pitman has made to his time with the Blues. The 27-year-old joined Town on a free transfer from AFC Bournemouth last month and has scored four goals in the Blues’ first three pre-season games.
"Eddie Howe said what a great finisher he was and somebody else said he was the best finisher he ever played with, one of the lads,” McCarthy said.
"Looking at him, he’s got all sorts in him. He’s very good in the air, he uses his right foot, his left foot, he gets good goals. That was a good goal today [at Cambridge], he was in there just poaching and tapping it in, which was nice.”
He added: "He’s a goalscorer, there’s no doubt about that. You’ve seen that already.
"I’ve not worked with anybody that gets as many shots in or tries to get to shoot when he gets his opportunity on the edge of the box, he wants to work the defenders or the keeper."
Last season Pitman scored 14 goals - including a first-half hat-trick against Blackpool in March - in 21 starts and 18 sub appearances as the Cherries topped the Championship and reached the Premier League for the first time in their history.
Overall Pitman, who won promotion from all three Football League divisions while with Bournemouth and is their fourth-highest all-time goalscorer, netted 102 goals in 174 starts and 127 sub appearances in two spells with the Dorset club.
For Bristol City - where he spent two and a half years following an August 2010 £600,000 move - he scored 20 goals in starts 36 and 45 games from the bench.
Town announced Pitman’s signing - on a three-year deal with an option for a further season - on the same day that Tyrone Mings joined Bournemouth for £8 million with Cherries winger Ryan Fraser moving in the opposite direction, although the striker’s switch was a separate deal.
McCarthy confirmed that Pitman didn’t cost the Blues a penny, as reported by TWTD at the time of the deal: "He was a free transfer, there was no remuneration at all for him. We got the money [and Fraser on a season-long loan] for Ty and we took him.
"Because Brett was at Bournemouth when they almost went out of existence, I think that part of not asking for a fee was being good to Brett as much as anything.”
He added: "It was a good deal all-round. And they’ve got a good left-back as well!”
Meanwhile, former Blues loan keeper Alex McCarthy, 25, has joined Crystal Palace from QPR for a fee of £3.5 million, signing a four-year deal.