Sean Morrison has recovered from ankle surgery over the summer and is ready to stake a claim for a place in the starting line up at Birmingham on Saturday.
The defender played the opening 45 mins of City's 1 - 0 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday but despite the lack of match action the 25 year old says he's fit.
Morrison will compete with Bruno Manga, Matt Connolly and Lee Peltier for a start but also against youngsters Semi Ajayi and David Tutonda who played in the central defensive position in pre season.
He said: “I'm 100% ready. Fitness wise it's not a problem, I've done a lot of work on and off the pitch over the last 12 weeks to get myself ready for this point. The aim was to get 45 minutes and come out unscathed which I have, so if I can get a full week with the boys then I'll be ready to go.
“It wasn't difficult for me [watching on] in this case, because Trolls knows me, he's worked with me and known me as a player for years. It would have been difficult if a new manager had come in who hadn't seen the team before but he knows exactly what I'm about, so it's been hard over the last 12 weeks but we're in good stead.
“Not much has changed, to be honest. A lot has changed and a lot hasn't changed in and around the club. There's the new formation which you can see, but we've worked with Trolls for a long time so we know exactly how he works and how he wants us to work, so it wasn't too bad to come back in against Bournemouth."
He said: “Last season we had four very good centre-backs at the club, including Ben Turner. We've got Semi coming through now as well so we've got strength in numbers. It's going to be a difficult decision for the gaffer but it's nice for him to have options.
“I think we're going to be a very fit and very organised team, the Championship is obviously a very difficult league, you look at the teams that have come down and up, all we can do is make sure we're right for the first day of the season and build from there.”
Birmingham City v Cardiff City
St Andrews
Saturday 3:00pm