Even after a full season of training with the first-team squad at Liverpool, Lewis Koumas still found himself a little starstruck.
Particularly when it came to Luis Diaz, a player he calls his current ‘idol’ in the game.
“There were times where he probably thought I was a bit of a weirdo just watching him most of the time,” Koumas tells Sky Sports with a smile.
“I love watching him to see what he does and try and implement bits of his game into mine.
“All the forwards at Liverpool are incredible. All the players are really. It was crazy even being there getting to watch them and learn from them every day. It’s the luckiest thing.
“You always get that moment where you just have like, Mo Salah or Virgil van Dijk, standing in front of you. I don’t think that awe will ever go away.”
Koumas, still just 19, is challenging himself away from Liverpool this season on loan at Stoke City in the Championship.
It wasn’t, however, the original plan to spend the season in the Potteries.
“I wasn’t to go on loan until maybe January or the next summer,” Koumas explains.
“It was a bit of a shock. I’d signed my new long-term deal with Liverpool and it was suddenly just, ‘Stoke want you to go in the morning’.
“And I was just out the door and over here straight away. I was lucky the opportunity arose, and then I just came here to try and do my best.
“I felt like I could do it, no matter how old I was or what experience I had. I know what I’m capable of, so it was just about going and showing it.”
And Koumas, who only turned 19 in September, has impressed in testing circumstances. He has held his place under four different managers in a side struggling near the wrong end of the table.
“I feel like I’ve coped with the level really well,” he adds. “Obviously it’s been a big step up. But I’m really enjoying it.”
Koumas has had a few goals to enjoy as well, with four netted in all competitions. One was a sizzling acrobatic effort against Bristol City.
Undoubtedly it was the most aesthetically impressive of all his goals, but it wasn’t his favourite.
“A lot of people would expect me to say the overhead kick against Bristol City, but my favourite one was Sunderland away,” he says.
“My dad scored at the same ground in the same corner to promote West Brom, so for that it was pretty special.”
Koumas is, of course, referring to his dad, Jason. A special talent and a cult hero to fans of a certain era – and particularly at West Brom.
Koumas Jr says his dad wasn’t too involved in the early stages of his career. He just wanted his son to have fun and learn to love the game, which won’t come as a huge surprise to anyone who is lucky enough to remember him play.
“It was more my granddad when I was a kid, who I first kicked a ball with and went to the park with,” he says.
“My dad took over in the more serious stages. Before then he just wanted me to have fun as a kid and make sure I was enjoying it.
“But now every single day and after every game I’ve got questions for him.
“He’s always trying to improve me and obviously I’m fortunate to have him because he was such a good player and he can share his experience with me.
“It is tougher to be the kind of player he was in today’s game. He was a street footballer type and it’s rarer to see that in this day and age.”
It is harder to sparkle as an individual in the structured world of the modern game, but Koumas undoubtedly still possesses that sprinkle of flair.
That ability mixed with a determination to prove himself, and show past doubters wrong, could lead him in the direction of a very promising career.
“There was an element when I was younger at Liverpool of people saying, ‘you’re only here because of your dad’,” Koumas says.
“It’s nice to have proved them wrong in a way. I’m showing that I’m a good player as well and I’m here because of me.”