Burton Albion striker Billy Kee has won the Football League Young Player of the Month award for October after scoring five goals for the League Two side.
Kee, joined the Brewers in the summer from Torquay and has scored 8 goals this season.
He came through the Apprenticeship programme at Leicester City in 2009 and the young forward credits his move back to the familiar territory of the East Midlands as having a positive impact on his career.
“I think I’ve settled in the best here,” he told BBC Sport.
“At Torquay I had an alright season scoring ten goals and getting to the play-off final but I’ve come here and settled in really well, all the lads have made me feel at home and I’ve really started to enjoy my football.”
“It’s a combination of being around my family all the time and the gaffer is here and wants to push me, the lads a great and when you’ve got all that coming together it really helps you to enjoy your football and perform.”
Burton boss Paul Peschisolido added: “Billy is only 20 and has the qualities to play at a much higher level.”
“I asked the coaching staff at Leicester, with whom we have a fairly close relationship, about Billy and they spoke highly of him from his time there.”
“I think he scored 40 goals in one season in there youth-team so he’d already come to our attention and since he’s been a professional he has been a thorn in our side when he’s played against us,” added Peschisolido.
“He has not really had a steady campaign yet but he has shown me that, if he has a steady run of games, he is going to be prolific.”
“I’m sure that, if he keeps going, there will be plenty of clubs coming down to watch him.”
Kee, a Northern Ireland Under-21 international, is believed to have cost Burton £20,000, although the fee remains undisclosed.
“Whatever the exact figure, he has been an absolute bargain, he has a great attitude and deserves his young player award,” added 40-year-old Peschisolido, who made his name as a centre-forward at Birmingham City and can also count West Brom, Fulham, Sheffield Utd and Derby County as former employers.
“Billy can finish and does not just score tap-ins. He scores 20-yarders and headers, he is really brave in the box and has great anticipation. When he gets there he will put his face where it hurts.”
Kee scored ten goals in 50 games last season for Torquay and reached the League Two play-off final at Old Trafford, which was won by Stevenage.
However, he suffered from homesickness during his time on the south coast and was unhappy after leaving his friends and family to return to pre-season training in the summer.
“I’m a bit of a home boy and, when the chance came to join Burton, I jumped at it,” added Kee, whose goals have helped Burton climb to eighth in League Two, three points off the automatic promotion places.
The clubs hopes of promotion last season were undermined by a series of postponed fixtures that left the team facing a game every four days in the final three months of their campaign.
Kee is hopeful his goals can help Burton, who won promotion into the Football League in 2009, reach League One at the end of the current campaign, but he is candid enough to admit that he is already living a dream by playing professional football.
“I just hope to make a living out of the game,” he said.
“This is a dream to me. I don’t liking setting targets but I just want to score as many goals as I can.”
