Onel Hernandez is going to blow up at Birmingham, predicts Blues’ boss Lee Bowyer, after the Norwich City loanee’s impressive Championship debut for the club.

Hernandez cut short a proposed season long move to Middlesbrough last week to head to the Midlands, and caught the eye after being thrust into the Blues’ line up for Saturday’s 1-1 league draw at Preston.

The Cuban is now set for his home debut on Tuesday against leaders Fulham, and ex-Leeds and Newcastle midfielder Bowyer is delighted to land Hernandez.

“It was an exciting and promising debut,” he said, quoted on the Birmingham Mail site. “We have just got to get him the ball more, we have got to try and find a way of getting him on the ball and he is going to cause problems.

“I wouldn’t want to be playing against him, left one versus one against him because he’s quick, he’s powerful, strong.

“He’s an exciting player for the fans to see. I said to him, ‘Just go and show how good you are, I know you are good’. And in little spurts he showed what he is going to bring to us going forward.

“With the injuries we have and the size of the squad, we need players that are versatile. I wanted him to play alongside Jukey (Lukas Jutkiewicz) and on the ball one versus one against centre halves.

“When you have got a tricky winger that can go past full backs easy then, guess what, they are going to go past centre halves even easier.

“I played him up there as a ten, he can play wide, he can play in a number of positions. He won’t just play as a striker for us.”