Cardiff City boss Steve Morison believes Cody Drameh has proved the Leeds United fans who gave him "stick" for leaving Elland Road in January wrong with a string of superb performances over the last few months.
Some supporters in Yorkshire were up in arms when Drameh decided to push through a move to the struggling Bluebirds, who were staring a relegation battle in the face at the beginning of the year, to get game-time and to show the world what he had to offer.
The fact he decided to go against the wishes of Marcelo Bielsa, a coach with god-like status up at Elland Road, to further himself as a player was met with criticism from the Leeds faithful, but his loan spell with Cardiff has only served to prove how beneficial they can be.
There is no doubt Morison would want him back at Cardiff next year. Sadly, though, the Bluebirds boss knows that clubs in the Premier League and even the top end of the Championship will have taken notice of the 20-year-old's scintillating, freakish form.
"He'd have gone anywhere and done what he's done," Morison said of Drameh. "He's a top-class player. I will have my hand up if I could have him next year, but he will go somewhere, if he doesn't play for Leeds. Someone will buy him because he's a top-drawer player and they'll have seen what he's done here, in a struggling team that was struggling to find himself.
"He has gone and joined someone who needed him to go and have a right scrap to get us out. He has come in and shown what a top player he is.
"He got a lot of stick when he left Leeds, a lot of people saying 'I can't believe you've left Bielsa to go and work for a school teacher', because obviously I'm well-loved in Leeds! But he has gone and proved and he is a better player now for this experience.
"He is on an upward trajectory and it'll be interesting to see how far he gets, because the sky is the limit for the boy."
Asked whether Drameh should be a Premier League player next term, Morison added: "I wouldn't say he should be, but I definitely think he will be. I think if you look across the board at teams, especially at the lower end of the Premier League right now, you look at Norwich and teams like that, is there a better right-back than him right now? Or a top-end Championship team, Bournemouth and teams like that, have they got better right-backs than Cody Drameh? I'd argue it. I'd say we've got one of the best right-backs in the league."
It's no surprise, though, that Cardiff fans want to see him back in the blue shirt next season. He has added so much pace to City's attack and has become a crucial part of the side's ability to defend from the front. Where he ends up next season at the minute remains a mystery. And when asked about whether he would entertain a move back to the Bluebirds this summer, Drameh remained tight-lipped. He did, however, say he had a decision to make over where his long-term future lies this summer.
"I've loved working under [Morison]," Drameh said. "The lads and staff have made me feel very welcome. They’ve helped me settle in easily. I know a lot of people are asking this question, but it’s the same answer for me. It’s just getting through these last few games, I’m fully focussed on these set of games and then in the summer I'll think about what I need to think about.
"I can’t really give too much away, I know you're trying to get me to give an answer!"
It's clear he is enjoying his football in CF11. Given he forced his move through against his manager's wishes, it might have been easy for him to have felt some pressure. But that has not been the case – the only stick he got in this corner of the world is from the Bluebirds players who ribbed him when he made an error in training.
"I was the one who forced it through so there was a confidence on my end to go out and play football," Drameh said of his decision to force through a move. "There was no type of pressure for me.
"It was more so the lads at Cardiff, when I made a bad pass they would be like 'Ah, he's from the Premier League!' and I'd get a bit of banter when I didn't do things correctly! But no, there's been no pressure.
"This is exactly what I wanted. I've started all the games I've been available here and hopefully I can continue to do so. For me it's about the game time and the experience."
The man in charge at Elland Road has changed since Drameh left in January, of course. Bielsa has left and Jesse Marsch is now in the dugout. Drameh admits he has not spoken to the American yet, but said he has kept in contact with a member of his backroom staff, Mark Jackson.
"I've spoken to Mark Jackson a few times, he's a very good guy who keeps in touch with me," the right-back said. "I congratulated him when he got a promotion to the first team because he's a really nice guy. He just tells me to keep up the performances.
"I haven't [had contact with Jesse Marsch] and I understand that because he's focussed on a big job he has to do at Leeds. Likewise with me, I've got a big job at Cardiff. I'm sure in the summer we will meet and talk."
Naturally, he has kept tabs on his parent club. Whether Marsch has designs to use him more in the summer is a discussion they will have in due course. But the player himself has seen a big difference in how Leeds operate under their new manager.
"I have watched the games over the last few weeks. I’ve seen a lot of changes from Marcelo Bielsa to Jesse Marsch. It feels a little more structure – it’s not as much like a basketball match! I've seen a lot more structure," he added.
He’s trying to make sure Leeds are not a team that you just don’t want to watch them. With Leeds there is a lot of entertainment and he is trying to neutralise that and he just wants to wants to make sure it's a good performance and they get the wins."
But attention once again turns back to Cardiff and the small matter of the South Wales derby. Drameh said the closest thing he has had to a derby atmosphere is the 3-2 defeat by Bristol City in January, but expects this weekend to be a far bigger deal. As if he needed reminding, his local post office worker in Cardiff made him acutely aware of what this fixture means to the fans in these parts.
"The excitement is going up," he said of the derby. "We are really looking forward to it, let’s hope we can get the win. There was a stat that no club has won it twice in a season – so hopefully we can stop Swansea doing that!
"Whenever I go to a post office or shop, Cardiff City fans keep telling me that it's a really, really important game and we have to win it. I went to the post office and there was a Cardiff City fan just telling me about it. He said ‘Come on Cardiff!’ and ‘You guys can’t lose!’ and I told them that we have to win it! We have to win this game.
"It was a person working in the post office and he was a Cardiff fan. He wrote on my parcel: 'Drameh, come on Cardiff!'"
