First-team coach Matt Gill says young striker Ben Morris is getting all the help he needs from the club as he comes to terms with suffering a second anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in pre-season training last month, only eight months after returning to action following the first.
Morris, 21, was initially sidelined in February 2019 but was back in the U23s by December and was understood to have caught the eye in training.
The former England U19 international, who has made one senior start and four sub appearances, was one of the Blues youngsters tipped to make an impression this season but having again torn his left ACL now faces spending much or all of another campaign recovering and rehabilitating.
"He’s learning early that football can kick you,” Gill said. "I think what you ask from all young players is to have that psychological stamina and his is getting tested massively at the moment.
"I think you have to keep that psychological stamina, get over the knocks, stick with it and remain motivated when you’re at your lowest.
"I think that’s a big part of having longevity in the game, that you have that stamina in your mental state and he’s going through it now.
"He’s getting the help he needs from the club and he’s a great lad and I’m sure he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”
Morris can take heart from the likes of Jack Lankester, Andre Dozzell, and Teddy Bishop, who have all suffered injury problems but are in or around the first team.
"I think it’s important that you get over those injuries” Gill continued. "What he’s had is horrific, to get two, so I think he’s going to need his team-mates to support him, all the staff within the club, people from outside the club. He needs that support and he’ll certainly get that from within it.”
Meanwhile, Gill has spoken about young central defender Alex Henderson, who over the summer opted to go to Georgia State University in Atlanta rather than stay with the Blues for a third year as a scholar.
Henderson, who spent much of last season on loan at Bury Town, made his one and only senior appearance for the Blues in the Leasing.com Trophy tie at Peterborough last season.
"I think all young players will try and map out their pathways,” Gill reflected. "He came in and did excellently on that night and obviously it was a great occasion to win on penalties like we did.
"But you ask young players to be courageous and he’s made a courageous decision, so fair play to him.”
In May, Gill completed a running challenge for keeper-coach Jimmy Walker’s Football DNA coaching school’s campaign to raise £10,000 for NHS Charities Together and the UN Foundation.
"I’ve only done about five runs since,” Gill laughed. "It was a tough slog, but I enjoyed it in the end. It was 200km in a month, for Mr Walker, the crazy goalkeeper-coach who is three stone overweight!
"The furthest I did in one day was probably about 13km but I was doing six, seven, eight, nine kilometres every day and got in a good rhythm and it gave me some purpose during lockdown. Then it was down to homeschooling the kids, so the run was a little bit of freedom.”