MAURO LUSTRINELLI saw Cedric Itten salvage his career and make a name for himself for club and country at youth level.
Now the Switzerland Under-21 boss has backed the striker to go from strength to strength with Rangers as he bids to continue his rise and rise in the game.
Itten suffered a serious knee injury two years ago but put in the hard graft on the road to recovery before firmly establishing himself with St Gallen.
His exploits in his homeland convinced Ibrox boss Steven Gerrard to add him to his Rangers attack this term and Itten has made a solid start to his Light Blues career.
The 23-year-old has earned further international recognition with Vladimir Petković's side in recent days and youth chief Lustrinelli is sure the striker has a bright future ahead of him in the game.
Lustrinelli told Herald and Times Sport: “Cedric Itten is a player with an incredible physical strength and a great mentality.
“It was not easy to come back to this level after such an injury. Cedric proved to have a great mentality and personality.
“He worked a lot and never gave up. He finally found back to his strength.
“Cedric is very quiet and intelligent. But on the pitch he changes completely: he fights for every ball, giving everything for the team.
“He’s always listening to the advices you give him as a coach, trying to implement them on the pitch.
“He has an important role in the team. He works always a lot and he places himself at the disposal of the team. You know as a coach that you can count on him.
“I think he can adapt quite good to the Scottish Premiership despite his young age. He has exactly the characteristics that allows him to do so. He’s a worker, he puts passion and he wants still to improve.
“I’m sure that the change in the Premiership, and the chance to play in a team like Glasgow Rangers, will help him to improve even more.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here