Sunderland star Chris Maguire is the League One Anthony Knockaert.
That is the view of EFL on Quest pundit Sam Saunders who lavished praise on the Scotland international forward after his hat-trick against AFC Wimbledon at the weekend.
The 30-year-old's treble inspired Sunderland to a 3-1 win on Saturday as Jack Ross' side maintained their unbeaten start to the season.
And it led to the former Brentford midfielder to compare Maguire to the French winger who has dazzled in the Championship across spells with Leicester, Brighton and Fulham.
"He is one of those players when he is confident and fit and has the shirt, he can produce performances like that," Saunders said.
"On his day he is like a League One Knockaert. He can score, he can assist, he is a threat to the opposition goal.
"For a club like Sunderland you need one of those talismen because teams are going to come to the Stadium of Light and try and bank in."
Sunderland's prospective new owners - MSD Partners trio John Phelan, Glenn Fuhrman and Rob Platek - were in attendance on Saturday and they will surely have been impressed by what they saw from Ross' side.
And former Leeds, Portsmouth and Sheffield United midfielder Michael Brown believes their only ambition will be achieving promotion from League One thie season.
"It is still a case of their financials and what is their historic debt," he said.
"They look to be in a much better place, they have got rid of some of their senior players and they have to get success.
"They need promotion. The pressure will be on Jack Ross and his staff to deliver that but they have had some good results over the last couple of weeks."
