Elliot Anderson: Newcastle United loanee 'excites' Bristol Rovers manager Joey Barton

Newcastle loanee Anderson celebrates scoring his second goal in two games for Bristol Rovers

Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton is "excited" by the potential of Newcastle United loanee Elliot Anderson.

The 19-year-old midfielder has scored in both of Rovers' past two games, including the only goal in Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Colchester United.

The win over the U's saw the Pirates move into the League Two play-off places for the first time this season.

"I'd have paid to watch him, he was that good," Barton told BBC Radio Bristol.

Anderson joined Rovers from the Premier League club in January on a deal until the end of the season.

"I think to get the goal early in the second half just caps a wonderful individual performance, but also a young player growing into the shirt," added Barton. "We're delighted to have him."

Barton described how he has spent hours listening to audio of Bill Shankly recently, citing memories the legendary Liverpool manager had of watching a young Diego Maradona play.

Shankly made comparisons between a teenage Maradona and former England international Sir Tom Finney, widely considered one of the best to have ever played football.

Barton stressed it was too early to say Anderson was at their level but said he had potential.

"I've been listening a lot to Bill Shankly in the last couple of days," said Barton. "He talks about a 19-year-old Diego Maradona and he's talking about how good of a player he thinks he's going to be, and he compares him to Tom Finney. He says Tom Finney is the greatest player he's ever seen.

"He said the difference with Tom was when he faced you up and looked at you he could also take you on, but then when he got in and around the penalty area he slowed down and he was mega calculated.

"When I see young Billy Elliot [Anderson], it's far too early to compare him to those greats over the years, but he certainly excites you."

Anderson has featured in all 12 of Rovers' fixtures since his arrival, also scoring in the win at Stevenage in February and Saturday's 3-0 victory over Harrogate. The in-form team have only lost twice in those matches, winning seven of them, to climb the table.

"I thought he was a real stand-out performer on the park and that was in the midst of some great players. There were some good performances and good players out there" Barton continued.

"But I thought he showed a different gear, another level."

Anderson joined Newcastle at the age of eight and made his Premier League debut in January 2021 as a late substitute against Arsenal, in what is his only league appearance for the Magpies so far. He also featured in the FA Cup for the team the same month.

Speaking before Newcastle's match with Everton on Thursday, manager Eddie Howe was similarly full of praise for Anderson.

"When we came in you could see he was a player with undoubted quality, I'd heard a lot of good things before working with him," Howe said.

"Great attitude, stayed behind every day to work on certain aspects of his game. He was aware that he needed to go and play, we wanted that for him. Delighted he's doing so well.

"I think he can play a lot higher than League Two but he's taken his opportunity and yes, we'll have to review like we do with every player in the summer."