Matt Ritchie has revealed Gini Wijnaldum stood out above the rest when he first joined Newcastle United.
Ritchie joined Newcastle in the summer of 2016 and only spent a few weeks training alongside the Dutch international before he joined Liverpool.
But Wijnaldum made a huge impression on the Scotland international in that short space of time and Ritchie has revealed he opened his eyes to the quality standards he needed to hit on Tyneside.
Opinion about Wijnaldum has often polarised Newcastle fans. The 29-year-old scored 11 goals in his only season on Tyneside but none of those came away from home. Many fans would also suggest his performances dipped during the crucial end of season run-in as Newcastle suffered the indignity of relegation.
Ritchie admitted Wijnaldum looked like he wanted to leave the club but he also revealed his quality blew him away when he first joined the Magpies from Bournemouth.
"I went there in the first season I arrived and they were having a bit of an overhaul because they had just been relegated," Ritchie told the Open Goal podcast.
"Gini Wijnaldum was still there. This geezer. He didn't want to be there so you can imagine he was in first gear every day.
"We trained for about six weeks and this guy was just smiling and he must have been thinking: 'I have Liverpool on the back-burner'.
"But he never gave the ball away. Everything he did, even in tiny little pockets he would find a Cruyff turn, little flicks around the corner. He was just unbelievable.
"Obviously now he has gone to Liverpool and he plays a little bit deeper. I watch him sometimes and I never really saw him in that role. In Newcastle he was a number 10. He was like a striker really at Newcastle but he has gone on to Liverpool and he is now a massive player.
"He, for me, was the one where I thought: 'Wow, this guy is a joke'."
