Town boss Kieran McKenna says new signing Axel Tuanzebe has settled well into training with the Blues squad but says the former Manchester United man is effectively in the early stages of a pre-season and won’t be involved with the first team for a few weeks yet.

Free agent Tuanzebe signed a one-year deal with the Blues last Friday - plus a club option for a further season - having been in discussions and training since the final day of the transfer window the previous week.

“He's settled in really well, really well. He's training with the group, he's looked in really good condition,” McKenna said.

“But also more so Axel is very mature for a 25-year-old, he's got leadership qualities, he communicates well, he's got a lot of experience with the teams and the clubs he's been to, and he certainly adds to the group.

“So he's fitted into the group well, he's enjoying seeing how the boys here work and how hard they work and how well they work. 

“But he's also adding his own personality and qualities to it, and I think it definitely strengthens us as a group.”

Asked whether he has a game in mind for the centre-half’s debut, McKenna said: “No, we have a time period that we're working towards. He's still probably in what you'd say are the earlier stages of pre-season in essence, in terms of time on the grass, he’s training fully with the group.

“He trained for maybe a week or so before he arrived with us [with Luton], but we want to be really methodical and sensible in terms of how we reintegrate him to the group and how we reintegrate him to matches because he's had 18 months really of a [back] issue that we think now is in a really good place.

“But we don't want to rush him back into the team into competitive action too soon and enhance the chances of there being a setback. 

“So we'll do it in a careful and well-considered way to hopefully get the benefits of a fully-fit Axel Tuanzebe for the rest of this season and beyond, which would be a big benefit to us as a club. 

“So he won't be involved, certainly not in the next few league matches. We want to build up his training, build up his robustness and while he's doing that, he can also build up his understanding of our principles and how we play and do everything we can to make sure that when he is integrated back into matches with the team, he can hopefully stay in that environment and be able to show his best qualities.”

In terms of the fortnight without a game, McKenna says the time was put to good use with those players who weren't on international duty.

“Really useful," he continued. “We had a couple of good days’ training last week and played a friendly match as well [a 1-1 draw with West Ham at the Hammers' training ground], which was important to get minutes, and then we've had a really good full week this week. 

“I think with the schedule, this would be our last training week with the group until the next international break.

“There's going to be a high amount of games, lots of midweek games between now and Christmas almost every week, so we have to make use of the training time whenever we get it, and the international breaks are going to be one of those periods.

“I think we've used the time well and we'll hopefully benefit from it in the busy period coming up.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Suffolkboy added 16:10 - Sep 14 Did we .or ought we to ever expect more from our style of deliberate management and careful planning ? We shall look forward to seeing what A T can bring — might prove outstanding ! COYB
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ArnieM added 14:33 - Sep 15 Oh he’s a keeper isn’t he. It’ll be a case of who will partner him at CB. He can play left or right side CB. So no one in the defensive team is “safe” which I think is brilliant. We need true competition.
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