This article is part of Football FanCast's Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba's haircuts to League Two relegation battles...

It’s not a case of now or never just yet, but you do feel that this whole thing has been dragged out quite a lot longer than it perhaps needed to be.

Josh McEachran has been with Birmingham City for several weeks now after initially being taken on trial back in early September, but he finally put pen to paper on a two-year deal at the end of last month.

However, he has yet to be given the opportunity to play for the Blues because of how long the trial lasted.

Pep Clotet has said that he is ‘almost up to speed’ and obviously you don’t want to rush him into things if he isn’t 100% fit, but given the amount of time he’s been with the club, if he isn’t fit by now, you wonder when he will be.

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Maybe it’s time to throw caution to the wind somewhat and play him this week, even if it isn’t for the full 90 minutes.

Surely if the club was willing to go through the process of signing him after his trial, you’d want to showcase him at the earliest opportunity.

Now that he’s had the international break to get two weeks of non-stop work with the first-team, it must only be a matter of time before he shows us what he looks like in a Blues shirt.

If you take a look at what he brings to the table, a pass completion rate of 84.4%, and a career-high tackle rate of 2.8 per game, McEachran could prove to be the key part in the game both in keeping the opposition out and moving Birmingham forward.

The midfielder is someone with vast amounts of Championship experience and even some Premier League experience as well so he certainly wouldn't be out of his depth.

It's just who he dislodges in the team that's the real question, particularly after the emergences of Jude Bellingham and Odin Bailey.

This weekend’s game against Leeds is arguably one of Birmingham's biggest tests so far this season, against a team that some people predicted would be right up there challenging at the top of the table come to the end of the season, and they’re going to need all the help they can get.

Perhaps calling on someone familiar to the division will give them the assistance they need in such a tough fixture.