Wing Solomon’s time is now at St Andrew’s

VIV Solomon-Otabor is a young man on a mission this season.

Having completed a first full campaign of his career at League One Blackpool last term, the winger (pictured) has returned to Blues with the aim of breaking his way into Garry Monk’s plans.

Monk will have the opportunity to take a good look at him for the first time as the players continue their pre-season preparations at a training camp in Austria this week.

Solomon-Otabor, now 22, has flirted with the first team in the past, having broken into the side under Gary Rowett in 2015.

He scored in the memorable 5-2 victory at Fulham in the same season, but was then loaned out to Bolton under Gianfranco Zola.

After a successful campaign with the Seasiders, however, Solomon-Otabor has returned reinvigorated and with a clear goal – to play a significant role in the current set-up.

“I’ve definitely improved as a player over the last 12 months,” he said.

“Playing so regularly has taken my game up another level.

“I’ve come back and I just want to try and break into the team and play games, which I did before (with Blues) at 19 or 20.

“Now I’m 22 I feel like I’ve got a lot experience with over 80 league appearances under my belt and if I get into the team I can do well.

“I’ve matured physically and I’m more powerful than when I was here before.

“In terms of what the manager said, he told just told me to come back and try and hit the ground running and see where we go from there after pre-season.

“It’s my time and opportunity to show the manager and his staff what I can do.

“We’ll see how things go over the next few weeks and just before the start of the season make a decision then on what happens.”