Source: PA
Derbyshire in line for Blues bow
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish could give new signing Matt Derbyshire his debut in Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash with Blackburn.
The 24-year-old former Rovers striker joined the Blues on Monday from Olympiacos on a season-long loan deal with a view to a permanent move. McLeish made clear his disappointment with his side's performance in their Premier League opener at Sunderland last weekend despite fighting back to force a 2-2 draw and he could be tempted to throw Derbyshire straight into the mix.
"Matt's in contention for the weekend," the Blues boss told the club`s official website. "He's fit enough and he's played a couple of Europa League games and he's ready to go in."
McLeish revealed he had been tempted by a move for Derbyshire, who left Rovers 18 months ago to head to Greece, last summer but brought in Christian Benitez instead.
He continued: "I'm very glad to have acquired Matt Derbyshire. When we went for Chucho, Matt was a player who was run by me at the time but we'd already committed to Chucho, so I just missed out on him. When he left Blackburn two years ago he took on a big challenge by going to a foreign country, especially Greece where the weather is extremely hot and the fans are really volatile.
"The passion between Panathanikos and Olympiacos is quite unbelievable, but he's gone there and won trophies and scored goals. I think he's a decent finisher and, if we can get the service to Matt, he can score goals because that's his main strength."
