Pierre Ekwah needs to prove he is ready for the cut-and-thrust of Championship football before he is drafted into Sunderland's starting line-up, according to Tony Mowbray. The Black Cats boss is a big admirer of the midfielder, who was signed from West Ham in January, and is convinced the 21-year-old has the talent to be a big hit on Wearside.
But Ekwah had not played a minute of senior football when he arrived at Sunderland, and needs time to get to grips with the far more demanding first-team environment after spending years playing U23 and U21 football at first Chelsea and then with the Hammers. At 6ft 2in, Ekwah will add physical presence in midfield and that led to questions as to why he was not introduced in last weekend's 5-1 mauling at the hands of Stoke City at the Stadium of Light.
"There's never an agenda with me - it's about the footballer, the guy," said Mowbray, who has so far used Ekwah in just a handful of league games from the bench. "Pierre has played, I don't know, 60-plus games at U18, U21 and U23 levels.
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"If he's 21 now, and he's only ever played youth football so he needs to adapt. I tell him that every day, and I spoke to him again yesterday.
"He is a lovely footballer and our fans will really appreciate the talent he has in his left foot and how calm he is with the ball. But he's not playing U21s football, he's on the pitch with the first team and it's not too easy, he can't stroll about and play at a pace where he will just get passed by, so we can't have that where I'm getting angry, annoyed, shouting at him.
"I want him to show me in training every day that he can compete and tackle and run and win challenges and come out with the ball in 50-50s, and show me he is not playing boys' football anymore. When he does that, his talent will get him in this team because he is a wonderful talent.
"I'm trying to get him ready and prepare him for first-team football. The best place to learn is out on the pitch, but I'm trying to give him a spell on the training ground where he understands that, if you don't quicken up, people are going to take the ball off you all the time.
"I'm trying to protect him from the 40,000 people who will make an instant judgement on whether he is good or not. As soon as I see the intensity in his training and in his game, he will be in the team."
Mowbray was at pains to point out that he is not being critical of the France U20 international, merely spelling out what he needs to do to make the step up from U21 football to the Championship. He said: "He finds it hard to understand, I think, because he has played for West Ham U21s and for Chelsea U23s, but this isn't the U23 league.
"It's a man's league. That sounds like a criticism of him but it's not meant to be a criticism, I'm trying to shake him out of what he has done for three or four years.
"He's really talented and yet there's a million really talented footballers out there who never make it, because football is about character, personality, aggression, as well as skill and quality. No-one wants skill and quality more than I do but until I see him run, fight, tackle, win headers, knock people over, compete for the team in the middle of the pitch where he plays - that's what he has to show me in training and then he'll be in the team."
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