Blues boss Mick McCarthy believes midfielder Kundai Benyu will benefit from his one-month youth loan with Aldershot Town in the Vanarama National League.
McCarthy says Benyu, who is 19 on Monday, needs to get senior games under his belt, the Camden-born youngster having been on the first-team bench for Town on four occasions but without making his debut.
"He’s needed to go and play,” McCarthy said. "We tried earlier on in the season and it didn’t happen. It really will do him good playing at that level.
"They’re going to make demands on him, certainly they’ll be expecting big things of him, he’s coming from a Championship club.
"And I know [Shots manager] Gary Waddock, he’ll be good for him, he’s a great lad, Gaz. And he’s a midfield player, he’ll help him with his game, no doubt.”
Would he have preferred to send him out to a club at a higher level had the option been available? "I guess the easiest answer to that is, ‘Yes, of course’, but I remember Jack Marriott going out to Woking and doing ever so well there.
"Alright, so he’s been released but he’s at Luton, he’s scoring his goals and I always thought he had a career wherever that might be.
"I think we cock a snook at the National League but you see the teams that come up, they do well. It’s a tough old league and they play some good football in it.
"So, I think it’s good for him. Nobody’s going to show Kundai how to be a footballer there. Nobody’s going to teach him his skills, his technical stuff, but he’ll learn some valuable football life lessons playing in that league when he’s playing against some rough and tough blokes who have been around and know the game. It’ll be good for him.”