Birmingham City have completed the signing of former Borussia Dortmund defender Emmanuel Mbende.
The 19-year-old had been training with the Blues in recent weeks and has now signed a short-term deal until the end of the season.
Birmingham boss Gary Rowett told the club website that the Cameroonian centre-back would not be in the first-team picture at first, but impressive performances for the Under-21s could see him come into contention.
"Maybe long-term he will potentially be a very good centre-back, but we haven't really got anyone to play alongside Wes Harding [for the Under-21s]," said Rowett.
"We've taken a bit of a gamble on Emmanuel just because of his physicality, his size. He's a powerful boy about six feet four inches high and six feet four wide!
"Obviously he's got a good pedigree at Dortmund and really it's just a case of us giving him an opportunity to see if we can push him into the first team group."
Mbende came through the ranks at Dortmund but left after seven years without featuring for the first team.
Pascal Lemesre
