Blues boss Kieran McKenna says he’s delighted with the progress Leif Davis has made since joining the Blues for a £1 million fee from Leeds in the summer.
Davis, 22, has got better with almost every game and was named the club’s Player of the Month for September.
Prior to his time with the Blues, the Newcastle-born full-back had made only eight league starts in addition to 13 sub appearances for the Whites and AFC Bournemouth, with whom he was on loan last season. He has already made 12 league starts for Town.
"We’re delighted with him. He was a player of high potential, which is why we decided to sign him,” McKenna said.
"But he was also someone who had played very few matches. He’d been around big squads and successful squads with Leeds in their promotion year and in the Premier League and around a successful Bournemouth squad last season, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to start many games, and certainly not to have a run of games.
"You know when you’re bringing in somebody in that situation that they’re going to need patience and they’re going to need support but we think he’s got big, big potential in his career with his attributes and we’re enjoying the process of helping him bring those attributes out on the pitch more.
"Of course, he’s still young and he’s still relatively inexperienced and it’s rare that these things will progress in a completely linear line.
"But we’re delighted to have him here, to push and support him and see if we can really help him reach towards that potential and he’s in a good direction at the moment, very important now that he keeps going.”
Town have had two recent left-backs, Aaron Cresswell and Tyrone Mings, go on to play in the Premier League and then represent England. Could Davis emulate their achievements? How high is Davis’s ceiling?
"I don’t believe in putting ceilings on any player because who at 19 was going to tell Harry Kane that he was going to maybe end up England’s record goalscorer, maybe end up the Premier League record goalscorer?” McKenna continued.
"I think it’s wrong to put ceilings on players. I think Leif has really high potential, some of his attributes are certainly of a Premier League level and there are other areas of the game that he needs to improve on and he needs to keep working on.
"We know that his ceiling is higher than where he’s currently at and to do that it’s going to take a lot of work, it’s going to take experience, it’s going to take games and he’s going to need luck along the way as well. But we think he’s got the mindset and the will to do that, so let’s see.
"For now, I think it’s a game at a time, I think he’s already possibly close to doubling his career starts with the games he’s played this season and it’s October.
"So every week, every game he gets out there is a bonus, every game is an opportunity to learn and progress and he just needs to think not too far ahead.
"Think about the challenges that Lincoln are going to bring and do as well as he possibly can in that game and then think about the next game, and everything else will take care of itself in time.”