Alan Pardew: "He reminds me of Essien, if I am honest, he is that type.
"He needs to learn that in and around our third, he needs to be a lot safer - he can be a bit loose there - and he needs to be more progressive in his play.
"There is so much more to come from him if we can get him out of just popping it off safely.
"When he attacks teams and runs at them, he could be as effective for us as Essien is for Chelsea.
"When I arrived, I could tell he was a very, very good player from what I had seen on TV, and when I reviewed the dvds of previous games, it just reinforced that.
"To watch him from the sideline, his energy and his power, he is as strong in possession as you will find.
"Sometimes, he invites trouble because he is holding two or three players off and he gets himself into physical challenges and he takes too many bookings.
"But because of the power he has, he has such confidence that he can hold people off. It frightens me to death at times, but he is such a brilliant character."