Ethan Laird reveals Tahith Chong conversation before quitting Manchester United for Birmingham City

Ethan Laird admits he spoke to Tahith Chong before quitting Manchester United to move to Birmingham City.

Laird has moved to the Blues for an undisclosed fee and put pen to paper on a three-year deal at St Andrews. It ended an association of more than 10 years at Old Trafford for the right-back, who made only two appearances for United's first team.

The 21-year-old spent last season on loan at QPR in the Championship. He scored once in 33 appearances at Loftus Road and has now elected to head back to English football's second tier by heading to Birmingham.

Laird has linked up with former United team-mate Chong at the Blues, after the Dutchman completed a permanent switch to Birmingham last summer. And Laird admits Chong told him what he wanted to hear about the club when he asked him about the prospect of heading to the Championship side.

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Speaking to the Birmingham club website, Laird said: "Of course I gave him a little message beforehand. I had a little conversation with him and he told me what the club is like.

"The fans, the family feel, and that's what you want as a player. You want to have that family feel where you know that you're going to be loved.

“The project in general - I am not going to go into too much detail – it is something exciting and it is something that I couldn’t miss.

“There is something real and proper going on here. I feel like it should be an exciting season. It is a project so you can’t expect things straight away but I am sure it will be exciting.”