Omer Riza has revealed his plan for Leicester City loanee Will Alves following his deadline-day move to Cardiff City.

Alves is arguably the brightest talent in Leicester's academy and, at 19 years of age, the Foxes believe now is the right time for him to go out and get some valuable loan experience.

By Riza's own admission, the signing of the untested forward player might be viewed as a gamble in some quarters. After all, the England youth international has only three senior appearances to his name and has just been signed by a team in a Championship relegation scrap.

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But the Bluebirds boss is confident he knows the player well enough, both on the pitch and off the pitch, to be comfortable that he can cope with the rigours and the demands.

Cardiff have been crying out for pace all year, which has been highlighted even more thanks to Isaak Davies's injury in pre-season, and Riza believes Alves has pace to burn and will scare defenders during his time with the club. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

There has been some debate over what role Alves will fulfil during his time with Cardiff. He has played the vast majority of his football in that playmaker, No.10 role, however Leicester boss and Man Utd legend Ruud van Nistelrooy sees him more as a winger moving forward.

And Riza is inclined to agree and that is how he will be deployed in a Bluebirds shirt. But the Cardiff manager did urge caution, insisting the youngster would have to be gradually integrated into the side given his relative lack of experience in comparison to some of his peers.

"I see him as a winger as well," Riza said, agreeing with Van Nistelrooy. "He can do the 10, he can drop in, turn and run at people. He is aggressive. But for Will, at the minute, he is best in the wide areas, where he can receive the ball and cause problems. He's on the back line straight away.

"Whether that's running in behind to receive or receiving the ball to feet and running at people. Being in the 10 is a little more complex and I want to take that away from him. For me, he's more of a winger than a 10, but can do both.

"We need players who have frightening pace that can scare the opposition. Will can do that. He needs to be weaned in, he's not played a lot of senior football and maybe not a lot of managers would have taken a punt on someone with his profile at the moment.

"But I've worked with him and know what he's got and the character he is. It's nice to give people the opportunity and hope they will repay you with energy, intensity and respect. I'm sure he will do that and be very impactful, he is a very exciting young player who fans will really like."

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Having an asset like pace within your ranks is a potent weapon. The emergence of Cian Ashford this season has gone some way to adding in that department in recent months, but proper pace has been thin on the ground and has been for years at Cardiff.

Now, though, with Alves, Ashford and the returning Davies in the not-too-distant future, Riza has a couple of options. And he believes that's a "scary" prospect for defenders who will come up against them in the months to come.

"I've said from the minute I came into the building what I like," Riza added. "All our wingers have that quality, but with young lads like Ash and Will, playing in the wide areas, that's quite scary.

"Then you can marry that up with Chris Willock on one side and that on the other. Or Anwar on one side and that on the other, whoever plays. It's good to have the options and choices. I'm glad to get a player of that profile in, because we needed that."

Alves could be in line to make his debut this weekend, with Cardiff taking on Stoke City in the FA Cup this Saturday.