Benitez set to miss league opener

Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish has revealed that Ecuadorian striker Christian Benitez is unlikely to be fit for Birmingham’s clash with Manchester United.

The 23-year-old, who has joined Blues for a club record fee of £7.7million from Santos Laguna, is still recovering from a shoulder operation as he enters week seven of the 12-week rehabilitation programme.

While the striker is set to miss the trip to Old Trafford on 16th August when Birmingham begin their Premier League campaign against defending champions United, he is also waiting on UK entry visa clearance

But McLeish remains hopeful that Benitez will be able to feature against Portsmouth three days later, stating that his long-term fitness is the main concern.

“It doesn’t look good for the first game against Manchester United but we’ll see how quickly he heals for the second game,” McLeish told the club’s official website.

“We’ve just got to be patient. We haven’t signed Benitez for the first game of the season, we’ve signed him for the full season and we have to make sure he’s fit for the whole season.”