Alex McLeish believes Nigel Quashie could provide his Birmingham City side with the attacking impetus from midfield they lack.
The Blues boss finally signed the former West Bromwich Albion midfielder on a one-month loan and gave him his debut as a substitute in the midweek victory over Crystal Palace.
His appearance ended 15 months of injury hell for the Scotland international and McLeish is confident that Quashie can play a vital role for Birmingham once he is fully fit.
“Making his debut was unexpected for Nigel because he had trained for 90 minutes on Tuesday morning with the fitness coach and was in the gym doing weights when I told him,” McLeish said. “I said ‘let’s hurry up with the signing and forget the extra week’s training. Do you want to do the paperwork right now?’ He was delighted to come on board.
“People say we have great strikers but they haven’t scored as many goals as they should have, although service has a lot to do with that. Kemy Agustien is settling in and his last two games were very good, but the others are more of the defensive type, they’re holders who don’t get the ball forward. Nigel is known for that.
“We have done the deal to see if Nigel still has the capacity to do that because he has been out for a long time. He knows himself how quickly a career can go because he was out for 15 months.
“Nigel is determined to grab that opportunity and was very keen to be involved on Tuesday, which is something I was looking for.”
