Alex McLeish claims he is very impressed with Gary Gardner and backed him to 'run through brick walls' for Aston Villa.
The Villa boss spoke out about the midfielder's performance in last weekend's 3-2 win at Midland rivals Wolves and he feels, the fact the youngster loves the club he grew up supporting, will ensure he will always give his all on the pitch.
But McLeish realises the club must ensure it helps Gardner deal with the ups and downs of life as a professional footballer to make sure he can get the best out of him.
He told AVTV: "Gary has come up through the Villa system. We want to breed kids at this club with a real desire and fire to play and go through brick walls for Aston Villa. And I'm sure Gary is of that ilk.
"We will keep working on that mentality and make sure he comes through that rollercoaster ride.
"With young players sometimes they play great, sometimes they then plateau a little bit and then they come back again. But we know that Gary has all the attributes to be an Aston Villa player."
He added: "He has great physique, he is a great footballer, he wants to learn, he's a guy who takes it in when you talk to him and I actually thought he was as effective in the second half, maybe more so, when we moved him to the right side.
"He played the game tactically very well. I was very impressed with him."