Departed Norwich midfielder Tom Adeyemi admitted signing for Championship heavyweights Birmingham was one of the easiest decisions of his young career.
The 21-year-old signed a two-year-deal St Andrews deal earlier this week following his release from the Canaries and Adeyemi believes he can realise his full potential with Lee Clark's Blues.
'As soon as I heard Birmingham were interested it was an easy decision to make,' he said. 'I'm really excited. This is an opportunity to come an
d play for a massive club with a good fan base and also for a manager who I worked with before and got on well with. I spent quite a lot of time training with him when I was in the youth team (at Norwich) and got to enjoy working with him. The opportunity to come and play for him was a major factor.
'The manager said that he's looking to sign hungry young players and I think I fit into that category because at 21 years of age I'm still at the start of my career and want to progress. Ultimately my aim is to be a Premier League footballer and I think coming to Birmingham is a great opportunity to do that. We could maybe do that together - that would be ideal.'
Adeyemi had loan spells at a clutch of League One clubs capped by a season-long loan spell that saw him play a key role in Brentford's Wembley run to the play-off final, but operating on a regular basis in the Championship will be a new challenge.
'I know it's going to be tough because the highest level I have played so far is League One,' Adeyemi told Birmingham's official site. 'But I've done two full seasons and I felt I was ready to make the step-up and I want to prove myself over the course of the season.
'I think individually I had quite a good season (at Brentford) last year. Obviously it didn't quite finish up in the way we were hoping for but I gained valuable experience from playing in big games. The last few games of the season, when we had to win, and the play-off final were all massive games and that will hopefully stand me in good stead for this season.
'I'm looking to add some goals to my game this season - if I can work with the manager on things like timing my runs into the box. I also really relish the physical side and imposing myself on the game.'
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