Former youngster Tahith Chong says that he is very happy to have left Old Trafford, having moved to City over the summer.
Chong had spent last season on loan at St. Andrews and has now completed a permanent switch there for an undisclosed fee.
The 22-year-old had impressed Blues fans with his performances, though could only muster two goals and four assists in 22 games across all competitions.
He was hampered somewhat by Birmingham’s lack of form, the club eventually finishing 20th in the Championship, as well as a lengthy thigh injury that kept him out for half the campaign.
While his departure from United was not wholly unexpected, it marked the end of a journey for the Dutchman who had been tipped for great thing from a young age, having switched Feyenoord for the Red Devils in 2016.
The winger made his senior debut in 2019, going onto make 16 appearances for United before heading out on loan to Werder Bremen and Club Brugge, but regular game-time was always an issue.
‘Of course, it’s [United] one of the biggest clubs in the world but eventually you have to look at yourself as well in terms of your career, what you want to achieve,’ Chong told .
‘For me I got to the stage I am at an age where I want to play games. As a player you develop when you play games, you develop to an extent when you are training every day but at the end of the day your bread and butter is going to be games.
‘If you are not getting that or you play once and then not again for four or five weeks, sometimes that’s not enough.
‘For me anyway it was a logical decision if I am not going to get game time here I need to get game time somewhere else. In terms of my career, you have goals and stuff you want to achieve and to do that you have to play games.
‘I did the pre-season with United and speaking to my family, United themselves, I felt I wanted to get to a stage where I do that, you want to perform week in week out and keep developing as a player. We felt this was the right thing to do.
‘Last season helped a lot, going back to a club [Birmingham] where you know everyone, what they want to do with the club. The manager [John Eustace] was new and I spoke to him as well before coming but the rest of the staff and players has kind of stayed the same.
‘I didn’t think he had to sell me over it that much. There were some other clubs but for us it was quite easy really.’
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