"He is flying." It did not take Jacob Murphy long to make an impression when he returned for pre-season training with Newcastle United last summer.
Having entered the final year of his contract, Murphy knew he had to impress Steve Bruce and his coaching staff - and the winger certainly did that.
It was immediately clear that Murphy had gained a lot of confidence from his loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday and the 25-year-old caught the eye in those first few sessions with his fitness, tenacity and end product.
Rangers, Bournemouth, Watford and Nottingham Forest were among the clubs who were interested in taking Murphy on loan again but, tellingly, Bruce did not want to let him go.
Throughout the summer, Bruce told Murphy to keep working hard, to stay patient, and the Newcastle boss soon informed him that he would be included in his Premier League squad.
Making the squad was one thing but Murphy's next challenge was to get in the team. Following a 690-day wait to start a Premier League game, Murphy took that chance at Wolves last month.
Playing out of position at wing-back in the top-flight is never easy, particularly when you are coming up against Daniel Podence, Pedro Neto and Adama Traore at various points, but Murphy did not look out of place at Molineux and popped up with a late equaliser for his side.
A lot of thought went into that 89th-minute free-kick. Murphy had been practising set-pieces in the run up to the trip to the West Midlands and had also analysed clips of Rui Patricio the night before the game. Murphy fatefully noted how 'anything low and hard would catch' the Wolves' goalkeeper out.
These are the fine details at this level and ChronicleLive understands that Murphy has also been working with a sports psychologist, a personal chef and an analyst to try and make the most out of his time away from the training ground.
Clearly, Murphy is determined to succeed at his boyhood club and agent Jamie Moralee admits his friend and client 'never gave up on the dream'.
"Jacob's got time on his side to develop into a good player and show the fans that the money that was paid for him a couple of years ago was not wasted and that he has actually been a good investment," Moralee told ChronicleLive.
"All he wants, really, is to be accepted and please the fans because you see the pictures of the early days when he was literally out of nappies wearing a Newcastle shirt.
"Not many people get the opportunity to play for their boyhood club and I think it would've hurt him if he had got the opportunity and been sold last summer.
"He would have looked back on it and thought, 'A few appearances here and there but they never got the best out of me'."
Murphy's mother, Maxine, is from Birtley while his father, John, hails from Ashington. A number of the 25-year-old relatives still live in Gateshead and they are all huge Newcastle supporters.
Murphy never forgot the first game he watched at St James' Park - Newcastle's UEFA Cup quarter-final win against PSV - and his grandmother used to send the club's latest strip to her grandson and his twin brother, Josh, every Christmas.
With that in mind, Murphy did not have to think twice when Moralee informed him that the newly-promoted Magpies were interested in signing him from Norwich in 2017.
"When Newcastle first came in for him, at the time, Jacob was flying in the Championship albeit he was still quite young," Moralee said.
"Two or three clubs had come in for him but when it was Newcastle that was mentioned to him, after I spoke to Rafa and Lee Charnley, he said, 'I don't even want to know who the other clubs are. Just make it happen'."
Newcastle had been looking at pacy wingers and Murphy was on Rafa Benitez's radar for some time. Indeed, the Norwich academy graduate impressed while playing for the Canaries in a bonkers game at St James' in 2016 when Newcastle came from 3-1 down to win a seven-goal thriller.
The Magpies agreed an initial £10m fee with Norwich, which could rise to £12m, and Murphy was Benitez's most expensive signing until Miguel Almiron's arrival a year-and-a-half later.
That fee reflected just how highly-rated Murphy was despite his lack of top-flight experience, but the new arrival had quite a bit of adjusting to do.
Off the field, Murphy was living on his own for the first time and was naturally missing his twin brother. On the field, Murphy put pressure on himself to deliver in fleeting cameos and he was almost trying too hard in an effort to catch the eye.
Murphy learnt a lot from Benitez - the winger still makes the runs that the Spaniard drummed into him on the training ground - but he struggled for a regular run of games.
For example, after scoring his first goal for the club away at Man City, in January, 2018, Murphy made just three further starts in all competitions that season.
There is no doubt that Murphy became more resilient - he had to - and benefited from loan spells at West Brom and, particularly, Sheffield Wednesday.
Murphy instantly proved a popular figure at Wednesday - making his team-mates laugh after singing Justin Bieber hit 'Baby' in a high-pitched voice as part of his initiation - and really grew in confidence as his loan spell progressed.
As strange as it sounds, Murphy was one of those players who benefited from the first lockdown of the year and, working alongside his twin brother, the Norfolk native read positive thinking books and tweaked his routine
Murphy scored four goals in Wednesday's final five games of the campaign and impressed in a new role at right wing-back.
By the time Murphy returned to pre-season training with Newcastle, the 25-year-old was ready to take his chance - whenever it ultimately came his way.
"We've got 16 and 17-year-olds signed to our agency and we use Jacob as that never-say-die example," Moralee added.
"We don't know what the future holds but one thing is for sure: he will sleep better at night if it was to end tomorrow than he would have done six months ago because he actually feels like he is a part of the process now."
