Hamilton Acciess boss John Rankin believes new signing Regan Thomson will be able to control games in the Championship when he is finally up to speed.
The 19-year-old joined the New Douglas Park club last week after a two-year spell at Newcastle United and Rankin believes the ex-Queen's Park youngster has the ability to be a pivotal player for Accies this season.
Thomson is lacking match fitness and it will be weeks before Accies fans get their first glimpse of him, but Rankin insists he has a lot to offer - and something to prove.
The Accies boss said: "I've known of Reegan for a number of years and the potential that he had at Queen's Park before Newcastle bought him.
"He is a left-sided midfielder, very competitive, very good on the ball, aggressive in the turnover and, not only that, but he's got an eye for a pass.
"He is one of these ones that when you get a player from a Premier League club in England, you hope they have that hunger where they can put what they have learned into practice when they are playing with men.
"He's played with boys for all of his up bringing, but this is an opportunity to go and play against men and really come to the fore.
"He's had huge potential for a number of years - like a lot of those Queen's Park players that moved on like Michael Ruth, Stephen Elder, Steven Bradley - and now he has got an opportunity to play at a level that we think he can kick on again.
"He has got the ability to go and control games in the Championship, but he also has something you don't see in many youngsters these days - he's streetwise and knows how to look after himself.
"He's well behind fitness-wise, so it's down to him to get himself in the side.
"I always say that pros these day need to do more than what they are doing at training.
"They need to look after themselves in different ways, whether that be eating, running, gym. Reegan needs to focus on that to get in the team and he's working really hard to get that right."
Rankin is preparing to face an old team-mate this weekend in fellow ex-Hibs star Ian Murray, now in charge of Saturday's opponents Raith Rovers.
Murray and Rankin were at Easter Road together for a few years under John Hughes and Colin Calderwood's reigns, but both find themselves in the dugouts on Saturday managing opposing sides.
And Rankin expects a tough test from his old pal in the Championship clash, having been impressed with the job Murray did at Airdrieonians last term, guiding them to the League One play-off final.
He said: "I know Ian very well. I played with him for four years at Hibs and he's taken over at Raith after doing a brilliant job at Airdrie.
"They were unfortunate not to get promoted last season. I saw a lot of them in the first half of last season and they probably played the best football in League One.
"They were very good to watch. He tries to play football in the right manner, which is a credit to him.
"So I'm looking forward to him coming here on Saturday and coming up against a Raith side that have just picked up their first win at the weekend there.
"We know how difficult it is going to be but we need to make it really difficult for teams coming here, rather than them coming here feeling welcomed and looking forward to playing on our pitch.
"We need to make it as tough as possible for them both on and off the ball."
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