Joey Barton heaped praise on Elliot Anderson, after the Newcastle starlet impressed on his debut for Bristol Rovers yesterday.
The talented teenager is spending the rest of the season on loan at the Memorial Stadium in a bid to further his developement.
It is Anderson’s first loan spell, and Magpies officials are hoping he will have a good experience playing senior football in League Two.
Anderson is without doubt one of the best prospects on Newcastle’s books at the moment.
So for him to have a really productive spell would be absolutely ideal. Barton had talked the youngster up a couple of days ago.
And Rovers supporters got a glimpse of Anderson’s quality yesterday, with the player making his first appearance for the Gas yesterday against Sutton United.
The 19-year-old actually started on the bench. But was called into action just before the hour mark to replace veteran Glen Whelan.
Anderson gave a great account of himself. He looked assured on the ball and looked to drive forwards where he could.
According to Sofascore, he had 31 touches, and completed 17/21 touches (81%).
After the game, Barton spoke of his delight about Anderson’s performance.
The former Toon midfielder said (via Bristol Post): “I thought Elliot Anderson looked superb in there when he came on showed a real level of maturity and quality that is befitting of his parent club and hopefully he’ll be a great addition.”
An encouraging start for Elliot Anderson at Bristol Rovers
It is great to hear that Anderson has already caught the eye for Bristol Rovers.
He has very high potential. The hope is that Anderson can really have a fruitful spell with the League Two outfit.
He’ll no doubt be able to showcase his excellent technical ability.
But, most likely, the club will hope this stint will help him to toughen up by exposing him to some physicality.
Hopefully he can feature heavily under Barton, and return to Newcastle in the summer perhaps ready to challenge for a first-team place.
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