Blues manager Kieran McKenna believes centre-half Jacob Greaves has adapted to the Premier League very well and benefited from being at the club for much of pre-season.
Greaves, signed from his hometown club Hull City for an initial £15 million in mid-July, has played every minute of each of Town’s five Premier League games so far and carried off the club’s Player of the Month award for August.
"He's adapted very well, no doubt about it,” McKenna said. "It was a benefit having him here early in pre-season.
"I think you can see that in his performances. He didn't do a whole pre-season with us, but he had a good amount of pre-season games, which not all the new players have had the benefit of having. He improved bit by bit in those and developed his understanding.
"I think he can be pleased with his performances in the early games. There's still a lot to come, there are still moments and instances where the quality of the opposition or certain movements have caught him out, like they can with any defender or like they can with any young player. I still think he's learning all the time.
"There's so much scope for him to keep learning. If he can stay consistent with his mindset and keep picking up consistent minutes in the Premier League, he's a player with a really bright future.
"I think just turning 24 years old, the athleticism that he's showing, ball-playing qualities and left-footed, that's always a little bit rare, so I think he's on a good pathway. But he needs lots of support and I'm encouraging him to stay on that pathway as well.”
Quizzed on what question he would ask Greaves - who would follow McKenna at the press conference - the Blues boss considered.
"I speak to him a lot about football, so maybe something about golf,” he said. "He's a keen golfer. We’ve got a little golf school at the moment, quite a few of the new boys have joined him with a few of the boys who are here.
"I don't get a chance to play very much at the moment and he's still managing to find a way to get down the golf courses on occasion. So maybe I could ask him for a little bit of help with my swing.”
Would the Blues boss be top of the leaderboard if he were playing? "I definitely would not, no! Unfortunately, the management career and the golf career doesn't tend to go very well hand in hand, so it's taking more than a backseat at the moment.”