Sky Sports pundit Keith Andrews has been gushing over midfielder Conor Hourihane after the Ireland international won promotion to the Premier League with Aston Villa.
Hourihane, 28, has been an important figure at Villa Park this season, scoring nine goals and supplying 12 assists as he appeared 48 times across all competitions for the West Midlands side.
Ex-Ireland international Andrews has revealed that he has been keeping tabs on Hourihane since the early days of his career and believes that his set-piece ability can be key for Aston Villa in the Premier League next season.
“I watched him closely at Barnsley and I felt he was a Roy of the Rovers type player, a Match of the Day type, whereas now he’s becoming a complete player,” said Andrews, as quoted by the Irish Mirror.
“The move to Villa has matured him so much – even just from playing the type of role he’s had to play.”
He added: “A lot of teams counter attack in the Premier League and have serious pace. That’s something he will have to learn.
“But Conor has freedom to use that left foot and strike from distance and set pieces.
“He’s immense from them but has added some structure to his game, positional sense, tackling ability, not that he’s ever going to be a Roy Keane type in a tackle.”
OPINION
Hourihane was not exactly someone who was widely-adored by Aston Villa fans when he was first brought to the club but as the season has progressed he has slowly but surely become one of the side’s most important players. There was debate about whether he would start in the play-off final on Monday ahead of Glenn Whelan, who is a much more defensive-minded midfielder. Hourihane plays a similar role but in a different way as he makes the most of his passing and set-piece play rather than being an out-and-out ball-winner. It remains to be seen whether the £28,000-a-week [The Sun] central midfielder can keep his place in the Villa squad in the Premier League. Dean Smith is bound to want to bring in a lot of new players to make the step up from the Championship and Hourihane is probably someone who will lose his place to a new arrival as he is very much top-end Championship quality.