Alexander Hleb must banish Barcelona memory, says Alex McLeish

Alex McLeish believes Alexander Hleb has been suffering from the "mental beating" he took at Barcelona ever since he arrived at St Andrew's, but the Birmingham City manager remains confident that the Belarus international can recapture his best form over the second half of the season, starting with the visit of his former club, Arsenal, tomorrow. Hleb has made just eight Premier League starts since joining Birmingham on a season-long loan and has shown only flashes of the ability that prompted Barcelona to pay Arsenal £14.5m for him in 2008. He arrived short of fitness and has also picked up several injuries, although McLeish said one of Hleb's biggest problems has been overcoming the psychological disappointment of failing at Barcelona, where he spent most of the time on the substitutes' bench before being loaned to Stuttgart last season. McLeish took great encouragement from Hleb's cameo against Manchester United in midweek – his first appearance in more than a month after recovering from a calf injury – and believes the prospect of facing his former team-mates this afternoon will provide the 29-year-old with further motivation to get back to his best. "I am sure he would love to put one over on his old team," McLeish said. "He came on the other night and showed some little touches of genius and we're looking for much more of that from 1 January and beyond. We brought him in because we wanted someone that could make a difference. He's not there fitness-wise. He wasn't at the same level [as the other players] when he came in and then he was cut down by injury. He's not 100% fully fit now. But what he can do with the ball is a gift and is something we would be looking heavily to rely on in the second half of the season." Hleb made only 19 appearances for Barcelona and admitted he felt "detached" from the celebrations at the end of his first season, which culminated in the Catalan club winning the domestic double and the Champions League. "He took a bit of a beating mentally with the Barcelona experience," McLeish said. "I never spoke to him about it but Alex himself said that he's got to rebuild his confidence." McLeish accepts Hleb was always going to take some time to adjust to life at St Andrew's. "It would have been a bit of a culture shock for Alex to come from Barcelona and Arsenal to play football that sometimes is difficult to imagine," he said. "I think we've got some good players that can pass it well but we are not at that level. But he can help us to progress."