YORK City boss Gary Mills believes Yan Klukowski is emerging as one of the Vanarama National League’s best ball-playing centre-backs.

Former midfielder Klukowski was converted into a defender during mid-November by Mills, who is now sweating on his fitness for the return match against North Ferriby at Bootham Crescent on New Year’s Day.

That game will take place on the former England 'C' international’s 30th birthday and Mills reckons Klukowski, who suffered a groin injury in Boxing Day’s 1-0 win at North Ferriby, has come of age since making his surprise transition.

“Yan has a bit of a groin problem and we’ll see how it settles down,” the City boss explained. “Hopefully, he’ll be okay, because I thought he was incredible before he had to go off against Ferriby.

“He showed on a difficult pitch that he is a footballer, who wasn’t going to panic and still had the confidence to play the ball out of defence. His reading of the game also got us out of trouble a couple of times.

“For me and the way I want to play, I haven’t seen a better centre-half for the last few weeks. There’s nothing wrong with changing to another position and making it yours and I believe it’s where he should play.”

Mills also added his pleasure at former Premier League midfielder Simon Lappin’s willingness to embrace the physical challenge of tackling the likes of North Ferriby in only his second appearance for the Minstermen.

The City boss pointed out: “Simon’s a quality player and a footballer, so he actually played better than I anticipated because it was a difficult pitch and I wasn’t too sure about putting him back in on that surface, but he showed a different side to his game by putting his foot in for us.”