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Swansea's Alejandro Pozuelo backed to rival Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho
SWANSEA boss Michael Laudrup has backed Alejandro Pozuelo to have a similar impact to Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho.
Pozuelo signed for the Swans from Real Betis this summer in a cut-price £500,000 deal, but Laudrup believes he can be just as good as Coutinho, who cost Liverpool £8.5m from Inter Milan.
The Danish boss told the South Wales Evening Post: "I think Alejandro can do here what Coutinho has done at Liverpool.
"I remember when Coutinho arrived. He came from Inter and he had a lot to learn, but now he is one of the most important players at Liverpool.
"With time, Pozuelo can do the same here because he has the same ability with the ball.
"He can find space, he is good one-on-one and has two good feet — we don't know if he is right-footed or left-footed. He also has very good vision."
Pozuelo has made five substitute appearances in the Premier League so far this season, and Laudrup accepts that the young Spaniard still has a way to go to fully adapt to life in England.
He added: "He has a lot of talent.
"He's a player that you can see is still young, but he has so much quality with two feet.
"We have to bring him forward and that's what we will do.
"He still has to learn a lot of things, but he is getting better and better when we don't have the ball.
"He's not that tall, but he's quite strong. He needs to learn to use his body better.
"But with a player like that who is only 22, we have to bring him forward slowly. Then he will be another very important player for us."
Pozuelo is likely to feature in tomorrow evening's Europa League match against St Gallen, having already scored against Malmo and Petrolul Ploiesti in the qualifying rounds.