I think the sad thing about him was he had bottle when he was younger. He took his chances every time he stepped up a level e.g. as I remember it he came into the reserves as a decent right/left back who could also play on either wing, made it into the team eventually as an AM and started bagging goals and assists (think he was captain too?), goes on loan, plays all across the front line and gets goals and assists, made his debut in preseason for us and scores a lovely goal, made it into the first team finally after his loans and looks creative and busy.
Problem is he then seemed to become some sort of Joe Allen figure who was like a DM who doesn't defend / a DLP who doesn't create and I agree with what people are saying about padding his passing stats etc, he lost absolutely everything that had made him a surprise package coming up because he forgot that it wasn't his natural talent that got him there, it was his bottle. A shame in my book as I always like players who make more of their ability than some of their peers might in the same situation. Maybe it's difficult to keep that attitude up once you're a millionaire superstar at 22, who knows.