After a difficult start to life at Birmingham, Hannibal has grown in stature and influence at Birmingham City FC. That progress was rewarded with his first goal, an assist, and a man-of-the-match performance against West Brom on Friday night.
If the words for his manager mean anything, it looks like Hannibal is finding his feet.
Hanni was awesome. His energy and all-round performance was different class. He’s a 20-year-old boy on his first loan, so you’re going to get dips in form and tired legs, but tonight he was back at his best.
He was instrumental last week too [in the 4-3 win against Swansea City]. You’ve got to take the highs and the lows and tonight he was unplayable.
I think it’s very evident all the players we have at our club, nobody plays like they’re a loan player. We’ve got a very tight dressing room in there and it’s like a family in there.
Everyone gets on very well and everyone is very coachable. We’ve got no egos nor any big-time Charlie’s.
Asked if he’d like to make the loan permanent, the Birmingham manager joked:
Listen, if you’ve got £20 million I might be able to. It’s out of my control.
Hannibal seemed keen that Erik ten Hag noticed his progress too.