'Wow, what am I doing here!’ - Phone call from NFL legend Tom Brady left Birmingham new boy Carlos Vicente stunned

Vicente swapped Spain for Birmingham for a fee reported to be around €8 million (£7m/$9.5m), a huge outlay for the second tier, which represents the ambitions held by Blues to launch a siege on the top flight.

Speaking to club media following his arrival, Vicente revealed the role Brady had in his move to England and suggested he was star-struck when he spoke to the legendary NFL quarterback on the phone about a prospective transfer.

The 26-year-old struck 10 goals and laid on three assists for Alaves in 25 appearances in the first half of the season and represents a major coup for Birmingham. He made his Championship debut for the club on Saturday and grabbed an assist off the bench in a 2-0 win away at Oxford United, inching the club closer to the top six.

Vicente said of his move: “These past two weeks have been really intense, but when I heard about Birmingham I just felt really happy, really interested about the project here. I'm really happy that finally I can come here.

“I think the opportunity, the project, how much they tell me they wanted me. That's really important to me to feel myself, like they really want me so I think all things came together for me to come here.

“I had a lot of conversations with Craig [Gardner], with Chris [Davies], even with the owner, Tom Brady and Tom Wagner, we talked a lot. They really want me to be here, so I'm really happy that finally I am.

“That was incredible. Yesterday, when we were driving here, this guy put me on with Tom Brady on the phone, and I said ‘Wow, what am I doing here?’

“But it's really exciting when someone like him calls you like that and tells you that you are important for him. I’m really proud of this moment.”

Vicente added on his desire to help the Blues reach the Premier League: “For me it's a big, big challenge to come here and get the promotion that the team and the city, I think, they deserve.

“I'm here to complete this challenge because for me it's really big and really interesting and it's a lot of motivation for me. I think that my type of play, my characteristics are very good for this type of game here, so I just want to step on the field and play good football.

“I am a vertical player who likes to run in space, to score goals, to give assists to the strikers, for example, and I'm a winger who can defend too. I work a lot but I think the verticality, the electricity that I put on the pitch, is the best thing for me and for the team.

“As I told you [this is] one of the biggest challenges of my life, the biggest one. I think the objective here is really clear to get the promotion, to feel myself important and to give the team whatever I can to promote and to get all the objectives that the team are expected to [achieve].”

Birmingham are certainly a club on the up and have real ambition to play in the Premier League before too long. Plans for the club’s new 62,000-seater home venue have only added to the excitement, with building work on their brand-new ‘Powerhouse’ stadium hoped to be completed by the start of the 2030-31 season.

As for this season, Chris Davies’ side remain within touching distance of the play-off places and have strengthened considerably in January with five new signings. Vicente will hope to be a key part of his side’s push for promotion in the run-in.