By August 2008 the word had already got out among Premier League scouts that a 22-year-old midfielder from the Ivory Coast, recently signed up by FC Twente after an eye‑catching season on loan at Roda JC, had something about him. It would be instructive to see how he fared at a higher level and a Champions League qualifier for Steve McClaren’s side against Arsenal provided an early chance to find out just how quickly Cheick Tioté was learning. The sight of him sticking to Robin van Persie like glue during Twente’s home leg, subduing the striker into irrelevance with an insistent performance that at times cared little for the boundaries of the law, lingered in more than a few minds and memories would be jolted firmly enough in due course.
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