Manchester United loanee Tahith Chong has claimed it is "nice to hear" the positive comments made by Birmingham City boss Lee Bowyer. 

The 21-year-old joined the Blues on a season-long loan move from United back in July and has quickly won the trust of Bowyer, becoming one of his most important attacking weapons.

The Birmingham boss has been very complimentary of Chong in his short time at St Andrew's, labelling him both a "credit" to the Old Trafford outfit and a player that has "every chance of making it at the top".

Speaking to United club media, the Dutchman was pressed on his relationship with Bowyer.

He said: "To be honest, it's been very positive. How he is as a manager is he's quite direct and quite straight to the point.

"If you do good, he'll tell you that. If you do bad, he'll tell you that it's bad. I feel I need to have that, especially for me.

"As a player, I want to know when I've done something bad. I want to learn from that and take that criticism on board to learn from it.

"It's really been very good and, like I said, the results have not really been showing what we're showing on the pitch. Hopefully, we'll start getting the results."

On the manager's comments, he added: "Yeah, it is nice to hear that but I think he's been talking to me a lot about what I've got to improve on as well.

"I feel like that's the most important conversation because, while it's obviously nice to get those compliments, him saying that, as a player I want to improve every day.

"I know I've got stuff to improve on. That's where I think he is helping a lot, talking to me and telling me what to improve on, and doing extra work on that after training, which has been very good."

Chong has been used in a range of roles by the Blues manager, featuring on both flanks and in attacking midfield, but is often given the freedom to float around freely while his side are in possession, which allows him to pop up in dangerous areas.

Even so, the United loanee will want to improve his production in the final third as he's yet to find the net and has only provided two assists so far.

The Verdict

Birmingham fans have to love these comments from Chong as it shows the strong relationship building between the 21-year-old and Bowyer.

That could be key to the United man having a breakout season while on loan at St Andrew's this term.

We've seen his quality already and you feel it may just take one or two goals to really get him playing at top gear.

You've got to credit the attacker for his attitude as well, as he seems determined to work hard for the team and take everything he can from his loan spell with the Blues.

That can only be good news for both Birmingham and United.