Alex McLeish

Alex McLeish believes that new signing Kemy Agustien will give him extra options in midfield.

The Dutch under 21 international's favoured role is as a central midfielder but he also has experience of playing on both flanks.

"Kemy is quite a dynamic player and very versatile," said the Blues boss.
 
"He can play on the right or the left or more crucially for us play in the centre which is where we are short.

"We have Mehdi (Nafti), Damien (Johnson) and Lee (Carsley) who are all similar players whereas Agustien is more box to box, so it's great to have a different type in there for us.

"Kemy is a bit like Fabrice Muamba in terms of dynamism, although I'm not saying he's the same type of player in breaking the play up in the way that Fabrice did so well.

"He knows how to get in position and how to play in terms of the shape of the team and he's had tremendous experience under an excellent coach in Louis van Gaal at Alkmaar.

"He's very knowledgeable on the 4-4-2 role and also tactically astute.

"I think he will be an asset to us whatever formation we play.     

Kemy Agustien

"He's still young in terms of goals and maybe that's something he can add to his game.

"We'd certainly be looking for him to pop up with the occasional goal."

The young Dutch prospect was the subject of interest from several clubs when he decided to look for a move away from AZ, but McLeish and chief scout Paul Montgomery were able to convince Agustien that Blues offered him the best chance to progress his career.

"Paul (Montgomery, the Chief Scout) has good relationships with a lot of agents and I also know Kemy's agent very well myself," said McLeish.

"I know that Kemy is in good hands with this guy.

"He's an agent that nurtures his players rather than just saying 'right, let's just go for a fast buck'  he will try and do the very best he can for them.

"It's reassuring when you've got agents like that because you tend to trust their judgement more."

Agustien will be unavailable for Blues' opening Championship fixture against Sheffield United on August 9 as he recovers from a hernia operation but McLeish anticipates he will be fully fit within the next couple of weeks barring any setbacks.

"He had his operation almost two weeks ago," added McLeish.

"He was swiftly dealt with when we discovered the hernia and he saw a top surgeon and underwent a routine operation.

"He's a little bit tender in that area and there's only so far we can push him at the moment but he is a fit lad naturally.

"He's a typical foreign player who looks after himself.

"We hope he'll be available the middle of August which is what the fitness department has told us.

"But I hate to pinpoint a precise date because sometimes you can have a wee setback a muscle strain or something that we can't predict.

"We must concentrate on getting him back to full fitness so there's no chance of a recurrence and we have him 100 per cent."