Birmingham City FC

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• Manager:Alex McLeish

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Blues hope for striker impact

19 Jun 2009 - 13:58:22

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Birmingham City co-owner David Sullivan believes club record signing Christian Benitez could blossom into the new Carlos Tevez.

The Ecuador striker has agreed to join the Blues for an undisclosed but major fee and is due at St Andrew's next week to undergo a medical and put pen to paper.

And Sullivan is expecting big things from the 23-year-old frontman when he adapts to life in England.

"I'm told he's the sort of player who will chase anything, he will go after hopeless causes in the hope of making something happen in order to get a result," he told the club's official website.

"He's got a decent international goalscoring record and what's attractive is that his goal to game ratio is improving, it was far better this season than it was last.

"He's quite slightly built and we will have to make sure we get balls on the floor to him. But he's strong with it, he's a tough little character and we believe he can be a real threat to defences in the Premier League.

"It's still a bit of a punt, a gamble, on someone his age. He could be absolutely anything, but from what we've seen and what we've heard, we're excited.

"We're sure he will become a favourite with our supporters but they have also got to give him a little time to adjust.

"We've learnt with foreign players that you shouldn't judge them on the first couple of games.

"They've got to settle and you remember Carlos Tevez, it took him a long while before he made an impact at West Ham United."