The ability, it is often said in regard to Alex Lowry, has never been in doubt. In the early stages of Motherwell’s thrilling 3-3 draw against St Mirren at the weekend, he served a sharp reminder of his undoubted talent in any case.
Receiving the ball in the midfield, he spotted a pass in behind the Saints defence, and in an instant the hosts were cut open. Seconds later, Tawanda Maswanhise was rolling the ball into the net.
It was an example of that rare marriage of vision and ability to execute that has so excited Motherwell supporters in these early days of his Fir Park career, in which there have been plenty of signs that he now has the application to match his prodigious gifts as a footballer.
It has also enthused his manager, Alfred Johansson, who concurred with the assessment that the pass through for Maswanhise was one that few other players at the level would have noticed, let alone pulled off.
"I agree with that,” Johansson said.
“Having spoken to him, so that's why I can tell you guys as well, [what he has to do] is to find the balance between playing those balls and also playing a little bit more simple at times so we can sustain some attacks too.
“He has this brilliance and we don't want to take that away from him, and there's so much more to get out of that boy.”
Fir Park, it seems, is the perfect place to get that out of him, as it has been for so many other players in the past who may have been deemed to have lost their way a little. Finding a way to wring out the best from footballers where others have failed to in the past is a key pillar of the Motherwell model, and a reputational calling card that allows them to pip other clubs at their level to names like Lowry, who was keen to find a stage to showcase himself once more after a difficult spell at Wycombe Wanderers.
At 23, could this product of the Rangers youth academy be about to not only fulfil the potential that he has long been touted as possessing, but shake off a tag – unwarranted or not – that his application didn’t quite match his level of technical ability?
For Johansson, there is no doubt about it. All he has seen since Lowry pitched up at Fir Park is a young man striving every day to be the best he can possibly be.
“He has such a huge potential,” he said.
“He has he has moments of brilliance, and we need to see a game of consistency and brilliance from Alex, and we will get that.
“He has been playing good games but there's more to take from him and it's more to take from everyone. It's more to take from the team and we will we will work hard for achieving that.
"I can only speak about what I saw since he arrived here. And he's been working hard and he's been humble and he's been gelling with the group in a really nice way. I have an excellent dialogue with the boy, excellent dialogue.
“I think he's in a place right now where he's contributing also to the environment in the locker room with a smile on his face, cracking jokes, and just being really, really positive guy.
“So, he's in a good spot and that's all I can assess."
Johansson added another gifted technical midfielder to his ranks yesterday prior to tonight’s game against Dundee United, with former Tannadice man Dylan Levitt coming straight into contention to make his Motherwell debut against his old club.
"I’m very excited to have him here,” he said.
“I think Dylan is a really good central midfielder who, on top of being really good, has experience of the Scottish Premiership. So, yeah, we're all very pleased with having him here.
"Dylan is a really good player that can break lines. He is good at finding the pockets with his passes. He has long range as well. On top of that, he's a very mobile player. He moves well around the pitch. I think Dylan is a very good addition to the squad.
“Obviously, we need all hands on deck because there's been a lot of games the past close to two months where Lukas Fadinger, Oscar Priestman and then after Oscar being injured and Joe Hodge coming in, it's been Joe taking all of the minutes. That's sustainable for a period of time, but not for too long. And we saw that with Oscar [getting injured].”
Johansson, who revealed that the club are again exploring the possibility of setting up co-operation agreements with some lower league outfits to get their younger players consistent game-time, is understandably looking forward to the fixture list calming down a little for his men after this week.
After the visit of United to Fir Park this evening, his men travel to Ibrox on Saturday before enjoying a 10-day stretch between games, allowing the Swede to finally get some serious work done on the training ground.
That his men have managed to look so exciting and fluent at times despite their packed early schedule is something that pleases him greatly, and excites him for what is to come.
“We've been doing so well on what I call a cheap background because we couldn't train,” he said.
“And many of the guys that play now, they were not training with us in the preseason either. And we've been having to do a lot of changes. The team has had to undergo a lot of changes, also a new manager on top of everything. And we've managed to do well in a period of big change. When you see all of our games, we have periods where we look really, really good, and yes, that excites me to see what we can build over time.
“I know that Motherwell last year also underwent big changes with the manager coming in and a lot of changes in the squad as well. And got off to a start that was a little bit tough. So here we've been managing to thrive off of last year's fundament to the start of the season. And hopefully we can now in the coming period where we will be able to train more, and show an expression that is more consistent going forward."
