Blues boss Kieran McKenna says new loan signing Brandon Williams had interest from clubs in the Premier League as well as other top Championship sides and that it was his relationship with the Manchester United full-back which led to the season-long move to Town.
Williams, 22, signed for Town for the season yesterday having previously worked with McKenna and assistant Martyn Pert in United’s academy and in their first-team squad, where he was a teammate of first-team coach Lee Grant.
"We're very pleased, obviously a player who I know very well, which always helps in terms of the settling-in period. And he knows, of course, Lee and Martyn and the coaching staff as well, so that helps the adjustment,” McKenna said regarding the signing.
"A top talent for this level. Somebody who's played a lot of Premier League football and European football at a very young age.
"Someone who I know what he's capable of and, as I've said, how hard he worked to get to the level that he's at.
"And someone I'm excited to work with again, and I think he certainly adds and improves to the squad and the team.”
The Blues manager says the former England U20 and U21 international is fit and ready to go.
"Certainly,” he said. "Look, he hasn't made any competitive first-team starts in 12 months, but he was fit for most of the second half of last season.
"He's done a full pre-season, played and did well in quite a number of Man United's pre-season friendlies. So he's ready to be involved on Saturday.”
Going back to Williams’s development in the Red Devils’ academy, McKenna says the Mancunian wasn’t the best among his peers, as the player has admitted.
"I think Brandon has said this on record himself, he certainly wasn't the most talented or anywhere near the most talented player in his group at 15-16,” he continued.
"He was in a very good age group with James Garner and Angel Gomes [now with Lille], Tahith Chong [now at Luton] came into that age group, Ethan Laird [currently with Birmingham], who's done very well. He was in a really good age group, and he wasn't always at the top of that age group.
"And I saw that transition in him from a schoolboy into being a young scholar. I saw how hard he fought and worked to get to where he got to.
"He's a player with real hunger, shows real desire and commitment on the pitch, and shows desire and commitment every day in training when he's at his best.
"And I saw him work his way through that to end up playing Premier League and European football for Man United. So he's a great example of where that hard work and that commitment can take you.
"Of course, he's coming off of a difficult year [he made only one cup appearance for United last season] and we'll give him the best environment possible and the best support possible to fight through that process again to get back to where he's capable of because I think he's a Premier League athlete, and he's got Premier League qualities.
"But he has to fight to get back to that point and we'll support him as best we can through that.
"It always helps when you've seen a player's journey and you can relate to some experiences that they've been through with him. And that helps in a relationship, and that's the position we're in. And I know that he can bring good things to the squad.
"And beyond that, we'll be here to support him, encourage him and push him. And he’s coming in with a real determination to get back on track, get back to football again and feel like an important player in a squad again. And he's got a lot of years ahead in his career. So, hopefully, this can be a good spell for him.”
Quizzed on whether the two having worked together previously was key to the move to Town, McKenna said: "I think that's the reality of the situation. I know he had Premier League and top Championship interest.
"Especially for a loan move, I think finding the right environment with the right people you trust can be important and trying to make the settling-in period as quick as possible when it's a loan is important. I think that's part of the reason why he's here.
"But he also knows it's a really good team, a really big club. We've got great momentum and positive energy around the place. We play a good playing style.
"It's a club moving in the right direction. So I think irrespective of any prior relationship, that's an attractive proposition for any player.”
Williams, like Mick Mills and Mauricio Taricco in Town’s past, is right-footed but has said he prefers to operate at left-back, although McKenna say he is capable of playing in a number of positions including centre-half with his height misreported by numerous online sources.
"He can play a number of different positions,” McKenna said. "He's very comfortable at left-back or as a left-wing-back. He's comfortable at right-back or as a right-wing-back. And he can play in the centre of defence as well. And I've seen him do it.
"I've had a little chuckle with him because I've seen a few things online saying he's 5ft 7in tall. He's a good 6ft. So maybe anyone who has read his Wikipedia page might be surprised.
"He's a really versatile defender. He can cover a number of different positions for us. He can bring different qualities on the left side of our team.
"Having a right-footer there can bring a different dynamic at times and bring different options and different attacking patterns that he can use on the right side of the defence. He gives us another attack-minded and aggressive defender from there.
"I think it puts us in a full-back position in a really strong case. I think with Brandon, with Leif [Davis] and with Harry [Clarke], for me that's three of the best young full-backs in the division.
"And, of course, with Janoi [Donacien] there, as well as an experienced and fantastic defender, I think that puts us in a really strong position in the full-back positions.
"I think to be successful in this league, ultimately, that's where we need to get to at every position.
"It's not going to be a first XI season. It's not a first XI game in this division with 46 games. And certainly not for us coming up and already being at full stretch coming up from a new division. We're going to need a big and strong squad. We're going to need players of equal level able to come in and out of the team.
"And we feel like in those four positions now, if they can all stay fit, then that will leave us in that situation. And again, that's where we want to get to in every position ultimately to be successful.”