Former Ross County full-back Josh Reid has earned himself comparisons to England favourite Stuart Pearce during his early days at Coventry City.
Reid made the switch from County to Coventry for a six-figure fee this week, continuing a remarkable season which saw the teenager make his debut for his hometown club and amass 20 league appearances.
County had hoped to keep him until the end of the season, with a loan deal from the Sky Blues, but Ryan Giles being recalled by parent club Wolves left Coventry short at left-back.
His new boss Mark Robins hopes Reid can live up to his early billing as an aggressive, forward-thinking defender, drawing comparisons with ex-City defender Pearce.
He told CoventryLive: “It was just typical and interesting to see a young kid just come in and roll his sleeves up and get on with things. He can dig a little as well, so I look forward to working with him.
“We need more of that type of player. We have some really good technical players, and he’ll be one of those as well, I’m sure, but if he can be anything near Stuart Pearce that will be brilliant, from how he’s described himself.”
🗣: “He’s told me not to put any pressure on myself and to just go out and enjoy my football like I have been doing at Ross County and I’ll get my opportunity." #PUSB
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— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) January 28, 2021
Former Dingwall Academy pupil Reid has earned positive reviews from his new boss Robins after his first training session, with intentions to keep him around the first-team squad.
He added: “He was good in training and everyone appreciates that when you have a good player in your midst, and they were applauding him and things like that, which is not normally seen.
“But they were encouraging him and making sure he felt as welcome as he possibly could, which was good to see in a competitive environment.
“He’s a young player and that goes along with what we do. He comes highly recommended by Chris Badlan (head of recruitment) and his team, as well as others.
“But he is a development player, as was Sam McCallum. There was no fee attached to Sam but ultimately we’re at a different level now so things change a little bit and you are looking in a different pool.
“He’s probably a little more advanced than Sam was because he’s played Scottish Premiership football. As I said, there’s a lot of work in him yet but there are good tools to work with that suggest he could turn into a really good player for us.
“He looks like he has a lot of tools to become a really good player for us. There’s plenty of work to do in terms of his development.
County boss John Hughes said Reid was the benchmark for the club’s young players, while chief executive Steven Ferguson – who has been academy director and co-manager during Reid’s time with the club – said the 18-year-old is a great ambassador for the area.
He signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Coventry earlier this week and could be in the squad for the game against Birmingham City tomorrow.
Robins added: “That depends on a few things. We are where we are with injuries.
“We have limited resources and he is one of those resources now.”
