Everton manager Roberto Martinez claims England new boy Ross Barkley reminds him of former Chelsea star Michael Ballack.
Barkley has capped a remarkable start to the season by receiving his first senior call-up from Roy Hodgson and Martinez is equally impressed by his teenage midfielder.
“He reminds me of Michael Ballack,” said the Blues’ new boss. “When Ballack was younger, nobody knew what his best position was.
“Could he be a sitting midfielder, an attacking midfielder or play up front? Ross is that impressive.
“He’s started our last three games. Against Real Betis he gave the ball away twice in a dangerous area. Against Norwich once. And against West Brom, he didn’t.
“It’s incredible how he takes things in and can develop, but he’s not the finished article.”
Martinez hailed the 19-year-old as genuinely two-footed and says he has yet to find a weakness in his game.
“Ross is as good with his left foot as he is with his right,” he said.
“When he broke his leg, it took him three months to get back to his normal self and he started using his left foot. Now you won’t see a difference between which foot he strikes the ball with.
“I look at Ross and you tell me what weakness he has? He hasn’t got one.”
Can you just imagine Moyes fast tracking a youngster as well as Martinez has?
If I were a fantastically talented youngster with bags of potential – I know who I would sign for now. Only problem is we need more youngsters – see interview with Stubbs. It would be nice to get a few of the under 21s out on loan but presumably because of lack of numbers in that age group, that won’t happen.