Town manager Kieran McKenna says summer signing Jacob Greaves “is on a good path” in his first Premier League season but believes there is a lot more to come from the 24-year-old central defender.
Greaves joined the Blues from hometown club Hull City in July for an initial £15 million and has now made 15 starts for the club, all in the Premier League, scoring his first goal in the closing minutes at Liverpool last month.
"I think there’s a lot more to come, there’s no doubt about it,” McKenna said when quizzed on Greaves’s progress. "You can definitely put him in a bracket with a few others that we’ve signed as a really high potential player.
"Good Championship experience but didn’t arrive with Premier League experience and faced the challenge of both trying to settle into a new club, which, especially for a player who has come from his hometown club, is even bigger.
"He had one loan move [at Cheltenham] but to settle into a new environment, a new dressing room and a new part of the country is a big challenge.
"To then settle in from a football perspective and the style of play with all those details to pick up, and then also to settle into the Premier League and the toughest league in the world, is a big challenge.
"He’s acquitted himself well. He had pre-season with us which I think has helped. He started the season well, then was disappointed to get the [hamstring] injury. We know we’ve had too much disruption across the back unit from what we would like and his injury was a part of that.
"And then he had to work his way back from an injury which was a new thing for him. He hasn’t missed many games, so it took him a little while to find his feet again and Cameron [Burgess] did well in his opportunities in the team, so he had to wait and be a supportive teammate.
"He’s played quite a few games lately and he’s competing well, he’s showing some good attributes and I still feel there’s loads and loads to come. I still feel like in every area of the game, I think he’ll be better in three months’ time, six months’ time and 12 months’ time.
"He just needs to keep working in the right way and keep working to improve and I think there’s lots still to come. But I think for his first season in the Premier League, he’s on a pretty good path.”