The glowing praise from Newcastle United coach on new Bristol Rovers midfielder Elliot Anderson
Bristol Rovers fans long patience for a Deadline Day was rewarded as the loan signing of Elliot Anderson from Newcastle United was announced.
After numerous options were reportedly explored like the more experienced likes of Callum Camps, Jon Dolan and Liam Sercombe, the Gas settled on a 19-year-old from one of Joey Barton’s old stomping grounds.
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Hide AdBarton is highly respected up in Newcastle due to past relationship with his teammate Shola Ameobi. This deal came as a surprise given the long-term interest from Luton Town as well as other higher division teams.
However, the move for Anderson happened and Rovers fans are very excited by the news as there is a lot of praise coming from the north and especially Newcastle assistant head coach Jason Tindall to sister website NewcastleWorld.
“He’s certainly a bright talent from what we’ve seen on the training ground. He’s got very good potential,” said the 44-year-old after including him on the bench for two Premier League matches.
“We’re very fortunate here, at this football club, to have some very, very good attacking players. There’s a lot of competition in the attacking areas.
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Hide Ad“So far, what we’ve seen with Elliot, is that he’s shown really good signs for the future.”
Tindall himself had a stint in management at AFC Bournemouth and played over 200 times in professional football before following Eddie Howe to every club he's coached at, so those positive words can only spur him on to succeed.
From the clips presented from Newcastle’s reels of him, Anderson is number 10 that is more than happy to drop deep, pick up the ball and drive with it. He is confident with the ball at his feet and is able to glide through defenders.
In an Under-23’s game against Aston Villa last season, it was clear to see how he is that catalyst of his team as he was at the forefront of everything they did.
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Hide AdThe interesting part for Anderson and Rovers is now where he fits in to the side, though Barton always wanted a midfielder so he will have the answer to that.
One of the standout performers of this season Anthony Evans, who has the most goal contributions in the team with eight assists and six goals enjoys playing in the ten role, providing support for the strikers.
Most recently he spoke about his disliking of being deployed as a wing-back at his German club Paderborn though there are likely no plans to play him there and instead he could be played as a striker once more or dropped further back into the midfield.
The pair could either play both at the same time whilst Sam Finley is not in the side or with just over half the season to go we could see Barton rotate the side given the depth need for a 46-game campaign.
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