Newcastle United defender Jetro Willems has claimed that the faith Derby County boss Phillip Cocu put in him as a young player was 'special'. 

Cocu took charge of the Rams in the summer and after a shaky start, had taken them to within five points of the play-off places before the 2019/20 campaign was delayed.

One of the biggest positives of the Dutchman's debut year at Pride Park has been the emergence of a number of young talents, with the likes of Max Bird, Jason Knight, and Louie Sibley all having been given the chance to impress.

Faith in young players appears to be a huge part of Cocu's management philosophy as evidenced by Willem's recent claim about his former boss.

The Newcastle defender, who is on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt, developed through the PSV Eindhoven academy system and served under Cocu at the Dutch club.

Speaking to The Athletic, he explained how the Derby coach's treatment of him was "special".

He said: "Every time in meetings, he would ask me about situations, about opposition players and their qualities, about everything.

“After training, he would even ask me about our team and what I thought about it. I was only young and normally, you only ask those things of your more senior pros but not him. He was like that with every player. It was special.”

The Rams will be hoping that Cocu's spell at Pride Park is as fruitful as his time at PSV, as the Dutchman won the Eredivise three times across two spells with his boyhood club.

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The Verdict

This is some interesting insight from Willems and makes a lot of sense given the faith that Cocu has shown in some of Derby's up-and-coming players this season.

The likes of Bird, Sibley, and Knight have been hugely impressive this term, if the Rams can hold onto them the future looks bright.

The Pride Park faithful will surely love to get this insight into Cocu's methods and way he treats young players.