Bruce has Palacios faith

Steve Bruce is hopeful that Honduran ace Wilson Palacios will make a big impact at Birmingham City.


The 23-year-old is on loan at St Andrews until January as manager Bruce assesses whether he is ready for the Barclays Premier League.

"The big thing with foreign players, especially someone coming from South or Central America, is how quickly they adapt, and how quickly they take to English football," said Bruce.

"When you are buying the top ones, you expect them to settle more or less straight away - that's why you buy them, and that's why they cost the most money.

"But what we find with them is that question: Can they adapt in this country? And can they adapt to the certain way we have to play? The language thing, the cultural thing, the society thing - it's the whole package.

"But, of course, if we didn't think he's got a chance, then we wouldn't have proceeded with the transfer."

our homework

Bruce also revealed that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger tipped him off about Palacios.

"We were doing our homework on various players and I was having a conversation with Steve Rowley, the chief scout at Arsenal, about midfielders and strengthening the squad, this, that and the other," Bruce revealed.

"About an hour later Arsene Wenger rang me and said he had had this boy over from Honduras who was well worth having a look at. So we invited Wilson up and we were pleased with what we saw.

"He's got 40-odd caps for his country, he's of a decent age, so we struck a deal to take him. He's a South American type who has definitely got talent."