'Close' - Birmingham City star reveals Aston Villa transfer breakdown

The 26-year-old made his first Blues start in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Reading, beginning a game for the first time since February

Josh McEachran’s Birmingham City career is up and running- but it could all have been so different.

The 26-year-old made his first Blues start in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Reading, beginning a game for the first time since February.

He delivered a polished and influential display before leaving the field utterly spent but having earned the praise of Blues ’ coaches and supporters alike.

That response might not have been quite so positive had things worked out in a different way in the summer.

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After his release from Brentford McEachran passed the off-season as a free agent, seemingly destined for a reunion with his former Bees boss Dean Smith at Aston Villa.

“I was close to signing but one or two things went a bit wrong and it didn’t end up. I am here now, I am happy here now so I don’t really need to speak about that,” McEachran said at last week’s Junior Blues Christmas party.

What he is happy to talk about is how unsettling it had been spending the summer without a club - and then when he did finally find one - at the invitation of a former Griffin Park team-mate, he did so with a lot to prove and improve.

“You don’t know whether you are going to be in England, America, anywhere in the world - that’s obviously not good.

“I finally got sorted here, after a trial at Birmingham - thanks to Harlee Dean really. He got me in. I am excited to be here and am excited for the season.

“It probably was humbling having to prove myself again, I wasn’t really expecting it to be honest because I was a free agent and there were quite a few teams and I was umming and ahing where to go and stuff.

“To come here, to get the opportunity to come and play for Birmingham, obviously it’s a massive club in the Championship, I have seen what they want to do in the next year, two  years.

“They want to get back to the Premier League and that’s what I want to do so I am grateful to be here.

“I just wanted to come here and prove myself.

“It was tough getting physically ready, I didn’t have a pre-season so I was always playing catch up.

“I think with the 23s games and the training I was on I have got up to speed with things, now I just want to start playing a few games with the first team and cement my place in the team.”

McEachran’s arrival suits both parties, coinciding with a footballing make-over, one that has seen Blues go from one of the most direct teams in the country to an increasingly attractive one.

“I have seen a lot of difference coming into the team and seeing the football they wanted to play, from last season and the season before.

“I don’t think I would have had a chance of playing in those two seasons because it wasn’t my style of football.

“But the football that Pep wants to play now definitely suits me a lot more.”

That much was clear for everyone to see in his first start in Royal Blue.