Joey Barton admits he didn’t expect Lamare Bogarde to be quite this good after breaking his own transfer protocol to sign the Aston Villa teenager late in the January window.
Bogarde’s loan until the end of the season was confirmed in the final moments of transfer deadline day with Barton conceding the Gas were frantically searching for an extra body in central midfield.
All month the Rovers manager had been insisting their recruitment would be driven by a clear and careful policy of adding definite quality, that would raise the standards of the whole group, rather than quantity, and had minimal time to thoroughly scout the Dutchman.
But the 19-year-old had proven something of a happy accident as he delivered his most accomplished performance so far in the quarters, against Forest Green Rovers on Saturday, to further accelerate his positive trajectory over each of his seven appearances.
"Yeah, class, isn’t he?" Barton said. "I’m lucky because my agent, about a week before the deadline, we were scrambling around and saying, ‘okay, midfielders, who do you know?’ and he fired him in. He isn’t Lamare’s agent but he came from the agency and he said, ‘he’s only a young boy but have a look at him, he can handle the ball.’
"And you never know how good they are - it was the same with Elliot Anderson last year - until you throw them in. And Jarell (Quansah) is in that same category, although I’d gone and got my eyes on Jarell live, so I knew the qualities he had.
"Lamare, I just watched on the Wyscout clips, but you could see he was competent, could handle the ball and we needed a body in that area. I have to be honest with you, he’s better than what I predicted.
"I knew he was a good player, Aston Villa thought really highly of him and they said, ‘look, he’s a game player. There’ll be things he does in training that will frustrate you etc but just let him go in games, let him play and he’ll show you what he can do.’"
Bogarde’s impact has gone beyond just what his own personal performances add to the starting XI as, along with fellow January arrivals Jarell Quansah and Grant Ward, he is making others around him better.
That is an impressive feat for a teenager who remains at such an early and raw stage of his professional career. But as he displayed in the win over Forest Green, his control, technical qualities and football IQ appear that of a player far beyond his 19 years.
His passing is efficient but also purposeful, he doesn’t shirk a challenge, while his positioning and appreciation of space is excellent. To all intents and purposes he bossed the midfield at New Lawn, doing so without the experience of Paul Coutts or Sam Finley alongside him.
"For a 19-year-old academy lad, the wind and the pitch… that’s what class players do, he’s a class act," Barton added. "But you look at that group now, you look at Lewis Gibson, Jarell and Lamare, Grant Ward’s been really good in an unsung hero kind of way, it’s bringing the best out of Luca Hoole, Lewis Gordon is looking better for it.
"Having good players in your team can encourage the best out of those around them and you don’t win a game unless you’ve got a really, really good team. For me, the key is not only having a good XI but having a good 17/18.
"Today was about our squad getting the job done and we’ve got to make sure everybody is absolutely wired in and understands their roles to play because if we’re going to be successful, it’s going to be the group."
At the other end of the age spectrum, 14 years Bogarde's senior and another individual who's spent time at Villa Park, who can more than justifiably be referred to as a "good player", is Scott Sinclair. His return to the Gas continues to be a modern football tale of romance but Barton insists it's far beyond that.
The veteran winger added his fifth goal of the campaign against Forest Green, with a further three assists, but the Rovers boss insists it's his attitude and professionalism that stands out, typified by the fact he's playing for the club with such drive when, in truth, at this stage of his career he has nothing to prove to anyone.
"We’re fortunate to get Scotty at our football club," Barton said. "The Gas connection and being at the club in the past is obviously nice, it's sentimental, but when Scott’s had the career he’s had and played for the calibre of clubs he has, at the level he has, he’s not just going to come and play for rag-arse Rovers, which I think it may have been in the past.
"He needs to come to a football club that has a culture and a training impetus and feels that they can do him justice. Because if you’ve had his career, there’s no point just coming for the game.
"He doesn’t need to be here for financial reasons, he’s here because he wants to enjoy his footy and have great moments and he’s showing that every time he takes to the pitch for us.
"He’s become a leader in our dressing room and his performances on the pitch - the goals and assists are nice - but his work rate, his team-ship and his leadership in the dressing room have been absolutely superb as well."
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