Birmingham boss hails Murphy deal

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish heaped praise on David Murphy after the left-back completed his transfer from Scottish side Hibs today.

The 23-year-old passed his medical this afternoon to finalise the deal, which will initially cost Birmingham £1.5million but could rise to £2.5million. The move is a return to the Premier League for Murphy, who made 13 appearances for Middlesbrough in the league before moving to Edinburgh in 2004.

McLeish told the club's official site: "He wants to prove himself in the Premiership. Any time I've seen him in Scotland over the past two or three years he's a full back who likes to get forward but has obviously got good defensive qualities as well.

"He's a player I've admired for a long time and I made enquiries to see if he had any Scottish blood in him when I had the Scotland job because we would have certainly brought him into the fold with the national team given the displays that we saw up there."

Murphy last game for Hibs was during the club's 1-1 draw with Celtic at Parkhead on December 22. Murphy scored the goal that nearly won the game for his side, but has since been out of action with a hamstring injury. Murphy's lack of playing time recently means McLeish has yet to decide whether to hand Murphy his debut against Chelsea at the weekend.