GREG Abbott reckons Joe Riley’s time has come to break out at City after 15 years growing up with Manchester United.

Full back Riley, who captained United’s under-23 team last season, credited Abbott’s role in convincing him to sign after penning a two-year deal yesterday.

City have been long-time admirers and Abbott remained in contact with the 21-year-old to lay the groundwork for the move.

City’s head of recruitment said: “Joe’s got a terrific attitude and wanted out of the comfort zone at Man United to go start his career.

“Sometimes it can be too nice at these big clubs but you’ve got to carve a career out at some point.

“The likes of Stuart (McCall), myself and John (Hendrie) had 100 games under our belt at 21 and were getting mentored by senior players like Peter Jackson and Dave Evans.

“Joe’s time has come and I had a really frank conversation with him in January about what he should do. I gave him advice and he rang back to thank me and said we should revisit this in the summer.

“We’ve gone back, we’ve all honoured it and managed to get it done. Let’s hope this is the start of an exciting batch of new signings to fit the bill that everybody is looking at.”

Riley is seen as Tony McMahon’s replacement at right back although he has the versatility to play on the left as well as in midfield. Abbott sees him as a perfect fit for how chairman Edin Rahic wants to build the club.

Abbott added: “Joe’s a modern-type full back who wants to excite people, get forward and join in attack-wise. We’ve got to remind him there’s the defensive side of the game as well.

“But he answers the DNA that Edin wants and he’s a fit lad, he’s quick and he can get up and down.

“The Man United thing will always make it sound attractive but it’s not because of that we’ve done it. We think he’s going to be a really good player.

“I try to look behind the sentiment but he’s been groomed well, that’s for sure, and has got a really good technical side to his game.

“We hope that he can learn some of the uglier bits and add that to the nice stuff he’s got. Then we could have a really exciting player on our hands that we can fit into the style that the owners want now.”