Birmingham City defender Jake Clarke-Salter has revealed the influence of Aston Villa assistant manager John Terry in his player development.

Clarke-Salter joined the Blues on a season-long loan from Chelsea last month after a successful stint with Vitesse in the Eredivisie last season, and he credits Terry with playing a big role in his early career.

Terry, who coaches Birmingham's bitter Midlands rivals Aston Villa, was Chelsea captain when Clarke-Salter first started training with the club's first team squad and the former England captain took the youngster under his wing.

“I first started training with the Chelsea squad at a young age and he took me under his wing and gave me advice, told me what I needed to improve on and how I can do that," Clarke-Salter told Birmingham Live.

“He is a really nice guy and I can’t thank him enough for the advice he has given me over the years.”

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Terry made over 700 appearances for Chelsea during his 19 years in the senior set-up before moving to Villa, where he later became Dean Smith's assistant and helped guide the club to promotion from the Championship last term.

The verdict

This is an interesting link between two key figures on either side of the Midlands rivalry, but Clarke-Salter certainly won't let this affect his allegiance to the Blues.

The defender was a real coup for the club when he put pen to paper last week, and he could be one of the top performers in the Championship if he settles well at St Andrew's.

He has clearly had an excellent footballing education at Chelsea, and having influential figures such as Terry around the training ground would have only propelled his development.

Birmingham will be hoping the skills Clarke-Salter picked up from Terry will come to benefit them this season as they aim for a successful season under Pep Clotet's leadership.