Craig Gardner is loving life at Birmingham City Football Club.

The 23-year-old grew up supporting the Blues, so he was naturally thrilled when they paid Aston Villa a fee of £3million to sign him during the winter window.

Although Gardner has made just one Premier League start for his idols since, he has absolutely no regrets over joining a club he clearly hopes to spend the rest of his career with.

“I’m at my boyhood club and I want to be here for the future,” he told the Sunday Mercury. “That’s why I signed a four-and-a-half year contract without even thinking about it.

“I wanted to commit myself to this club and get the deal done as soon as possible. I was on to my agent every day saying: ‘Is it done? Is it done?’, and I had a fair few sleepless nights.

“Now it’s done it’s the start of something massive for me. It’s only upwards for me now, I just want to get myself in that team and start scoring some goals for Blues.”

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