John Carver is backing Newcastle midfielder Remy Cabella to become as big a noise on the pitch as he is off it.
The 24-year-old was signed from Montpellier during the summer to help plug the gap left by Yohan Cabaye as the Magpies finally got their hands on a man they had been trailing for some time.
Cabella found the going tough during his initial few months on Tyneside, with then manager Alan Pardew admitting the France international needed to get to grips with the physical side of Premier League football before he could fully display his talent.
However, his performance in a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea on January 10 suggested a corner had been turned, and his first goal for the club in last weekend's 3-0 victory at Hull further illustrated the progress he has made.
Asked if he had seen Cabella grow as a person in recent weeks, head coach Carver said: "He's always been a lively character around the place and is a really pleasant guy.
"He picked up the English very quickly and he'll always come in our office for a chat in the morning. He's always been loud -- sometimes too loud, irritatingly loud.
"You've got to see his silver trainers -- he's a weird dresser! But that's fine, he's a good personality to have around."
Cabella was touted as the man to help bring the invention to the team which was lost when Cabaye and Hatem Ben Arfa departed, for markedly different reasons, and the signs are that he is starting to do that.
However, Carver was quick to steer clear of comparing him with the talented, but unpredictable Ben Arfa in particular as he prepared for Sunday's home clash with Stoke.
He said: "They are two totally different players. He's now starting to produce things which [chief scout] Graham [Carr] saw -- and the fans are starting to see that.
"But with these flair players, it has to be consistent, and that is difficult. He is starting to show some good traits. But work ethic is massive -- if you haven't got that it doesn't matter how much ability you have, you won't be in my team.
"He's starting to show things now -- and he's Remy Cabella, he's not Hatem Ben Arfa. He has a different style and a different personality.
"You have to keep hitting them a stick sometimes, but everybody reacts differently to a rollocking. You have to understand which ones you can and cannot do that with.
"Hatem was one that you couldn't take very far. Personally, I respond to criticism -- that drives me on harder."
Sunday's game sees the 10th-placed visitors head into battle with the team lying immediately below them, a very different situation to the one in which the Magpies found themselves when they headed for the Britannia Stadium in September with the anti-Pardew campaign in full swing.
Carver said: "It was a strange situation -- I've never experienced that in my life. What happened at Southampton wasn't anywhere as near as intimidating as what it was at Stoke that night.
"I had a real empty feeling inside and I wasn't sure where we were going to go. But I did trust and believe in the manager because I knew how strong he was.
"I knew he could deal with it and that gave me strength. I saw him not running away from the situation and that gave us the belief to see it through.
"He didn't walk away and we went on that terrific run from that point. It was one of the lowest points of the season, absolutely."
Defender Paul Dummett and midfielders Gabriel Obertan and Ryan Taylor will return to the squad after injury, but Siem de Jong and Rolando Aarons will not be risked as they close in on comebacks.