Clarets in Pattison link

The 20-year-old was born in Johannesburg in 1986 but moved to the north east of England with his family when he was eleven and joined Newcastle at the age of fourteen. Progressing through the youth and reserve teams he got a call up to the first team during the pre-season three years ago but having played in a prestigious game against Celtic he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in training.

That kept him out for the season, and a further injury to the knee extended that until the following November. But he's been injury free since and on his return he signed a new deal until the end of next season.

His first team debut finally came as a substitute against Everton in February 2006 and two months later he got his first Premiership start in a 3-0 win against West Brom.

Last season Pattison was the star for their reserve team and won rave reviews game after game, and on the last day of the season he turned in a superb performance for the first team. Coach Lee Clark said of him: "I thought he had everything we asked for, passion, pace, strength, desire and commitment as well as skill. It is something for him to build on because in the reserves he's been excellent. We think a lot of him because he has a great attitude and we want him to progress into the first team next year."

Whether his future is at Newcastle remains to be seen, but he is definitely a player the Magpies would prefer to hold on to.