Sindre Walle Egeli has received the backing of Town teammate Ashley Young, who believes the Norwegian forward has the potential to become world class.

Blues winger Walle Egeli became the Championship’s most expensive signing in August when Town agreed an initial £17.5 million fee with Danish side FC Nordsjælland.

The 19-year-old, who has predominantly played as a right winger since his move to Suffolk, made a promising start but was made to wait until his 12th appearance for his first goal in English football.

It came in dramatic style, netting a stoppage-time equaliser at Blackburn Rovers in a match that had initially been abandoned due to a waterlogged pitch 73 days earlier.

Five days later, he scored his second - and first at Portman Road - to set Town on their way to their 3-0 home victory over leaders Coventry City.

Walle Egeli admitted he was not stressed about when his first goal would come, and Young agreed that the teenager’s demeanour backs up that claim.

“He’s calm about everything,” he said. “That is exactly the way he is. A lot of people look at him and think that he’s so laid back, which it does look that way, to be honest.

“He’s one of them that wants to work and he wants to get goals, you see it in training day in, day out. He’s just one of those players who looks like he’s so laid back, but I think that’s just his character and the way he is.

“For him to get on the scoresheet [at Blackburn], he was the coolest one there. To be honest, when the ball rolled across to him, it was like ‘this is going to be a goal’. Straight away as soon as he hit it, we knew it was going to be a goal. That’s the way he is in training, he’s so calm and relaxed.

“It’s fantastic for him. A youngster coming into the team, the country and a new league, it’s not easy. I’ve always said for youngsters when they come into the league, especially as a wide player, you get that first goal and your confidence levels literally skyrocket.

“You can see at times there could be people talking about that he’s not scored, but once you get that first goal, the confidence you get from that, you can just build on that.

“We’re delighted with him. He could be as young as my son, to be honest. When he scored, it was a fantastic feeling for him. I don’t know if it was a weight lifted off his shoulders, but the confidence that he’s had since then, you can tell he scored that goal and he just wants more.

“He’s just one of these youngsters that wants to work and at times he’s fairly quiet, but I think that’s just because I'm so loud. He wants to work, he wants to improve, and when you’ve got someone that young that wants to improve and you can see the talent he’s got and he wants to work hard for the team.

“Getting those goals will hopefully now give him the kickstart that he needs to go and get more goals and more assists.”

Asked how good Walle Egeli can become, Young continued: “He can become whatever he wants to become. Whatever career he wants to see, he can definitely become a high-level player and a world-class player if he wants to because he’s got all the attributes to be that way.

“As long as you want to come in and work hard every day and give 100 per cent in training, you’ve got every chance of making it right to the top.”

Young had already made 87 senior appearances and scored 18 goals for Watford, alongside a promotion to the Premier League, by the time Walle Egeli was born in June 2006.

Further to the point, the Norway international is 17 days younger than Young’s son Tyler, who is also a professional at Portman Road in the Blues’ U21s set-up.

Given that the 40-year-old played a significant portion of his highly successful career with England and Manchester United as a winger, he revealed that he offers plenty of advice to Walle Egeli and other members of the squad.

“If I pull him aside and tell him about when I played as a winger, he probably wasn’t even born so there’s no point,” he joked.

“I tend to talk to pretty much everyone in the squad. If I can give him any advice in any way then I will do that. We have had conversations and I’ve had conversations with a lot of people in the squad.

“My age gets brought up non-stop and I’ve been around the block quite a lot. If anyone takes the advice I’ve given them, it’s massive and that’s like a win in itself for me.

“Everyone in the squad wants to listen, I don’t think I’ve come across a person that doesn’t want to listen or doesn’t want to ask questions. I’m always available to talk to anyone that’s got questions.”

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