The 20-year-old Argentinian Mauro Zarate was signed by Premiership relegation candidates Birmingham City in January from Qatar-based Al Sadd but so far the youngster has made just two appearance for the Midlands Blues.
But Birmingham manager Alex McLeish says that Zarate will make an impact in the Premiership in the coming months. The former Rangers and Hibernian manager thinks that Zarate needs some time to settle into the Premiership. He says:
It’s not easy for Zarate to come right into the team. As a 20-year-old he’s a player we hope will make an impact rather than be a starter.
It would be nice to think we could throw him right in and we’d get a brilliant return.
He can beat people easily, but the main thing we’re looking for from him is when he does beat people that we get an end product.
So I will go with experience, the tried and trusted, but Zarate is very much in the plans and he will be involved on the bench at least.
But the truth is that McLeish would like the 20-year old to join in the fight as soon as he can. After all, Birmingham are fighting the drop and the manager would want his troops to get into the action from the very start.