And Sean Dyche has pointed to the example of the Belgian when discussing his new addition, claiming that it showed such a signing can work at Turf Moor: "Steven was very interesting, a very bright football man.
"I like him a lot, I think he's quite a travelled player, he was a captain very young, played under a lot of pressure at times, played for the national side - he knew what he wanted, and he said he had a fantastic time here.
"He was quite into the education of the game and found a way of working here, as he described it, to win without the ball, and he never knew that because he was brought up a different way.
"Once he bought into it, he enjoyed that side of the game and how it improved him as a player, so I did share that with him.
"Words are what they are, actions change everything, and it took him a while until he really got hold of it, and once he did...unfortunately a knee injury cost him.
"At that stage he was so hardy to his belief in what we were doing, he was actually playing on with a lump of cartilage floating around his knee, and he hadn't even bothered about it.
"Then his calf, etc etc.
"When I spoke to him, I shared my view of what it was, shared the realities, and it took him a while, but he came and spoke to me about it and said 'I get what you said, everything was right. Originally I didn't get it, but I do.'
"Sometimes it can take time."
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"He was quite into the education of the game and found a way of working here, as he described it, to win without the ball, and he never knew that because he was brought up a different way.