Blues manager Kieran McKenna says new signing Anis Mehmeti is a player Town have been following for a while.

Town completed the addition of the 25-year-old for an initial £3 million from Bristol City yesterday, the Albania international signing a three-and-a-half-year deal.

“He’s a player that the club has followed for quite a while and we’ve liked for quite a while. A player on a good trajectory,” McKenna said.

“Came up from non-league to do really well at Wycombe, is doing really well at Bristol City.

“A creative player who plays between the lines in a variety of different ways but can take the ball, can dribble, can slide people in, can shoot, can get in the box, defends well and he’s got a great attitude to work and to want to get better and to improve. That’s always a good fit for this club and we think he’s someone who can help us.

“Good to get him some minutes today. If we’re going to take any positives from the day, it’s positive to get him off and running because he didn’t even train with the group yesterday, he met the boys on the bus nearly.

“The paperwork went through and we’re a little bit short in those sort of areas at the moment, so he put his hand up to be involved and we knew we’d cap it at 20 minutes today.

“But good to get him on the pitch and straight away he was getting the ball on the back foot and driving at defenders and sliding people in and showing some of the qualities that he’s going to bring us.”

Asked whether he sees Mehmeti in the left-sided role he occupied at Bristol City, and where he already has Jack Clarke and Jaden Phgilogene vying for one spot, or as a number 10, McKenna said: “He can do both. I think at Bristol City, if you can put any name on those positions, he’s played as left 10, he’s played as right 10. Our 10 usually plays a little bit more central from the right-hand side.

“Sometimes our left winger comes inside, some outside, he can do both. He’s really comfortable in between the lines whether he’s coming from the left or from the right, a little bit more from central, he’s a player who can create in between the lines and he’s done it in a variety of different roles throughout his career, really.

“We’re happy to have him on board, his versatility is a bonus and he gives us another different option in that forward unit.”

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