"You actually good at football mate."
Claudio Braga provided somewhat of an understated compliment to Marc Leonard on social media after Heart of Midlothian's 1-0 win over Aberdeen.
It followed another influential performance on both sides of the ball at the heart of the Hearts midfield.
The midfielder's impact, across seven appearances, has been as important as it has been impressive.
Rewind to the middle of January, Hearts and head coach Derek McInnes were in somewhat of a pickle. In one game, a 2-0 win over St Mirren, they had lost their midfield foundation with Cammy Devlin's injury and Beni Baningime's two-game suspension.
Add the fact that Ageu and Oisin McEntee were working their way back from injury and Hearts were short in the centre of the pitch heading into a vital top-of-the-table clash with Celtic at Tynecastle Park.
The club pursued Forest Green Rovers midfielder Laurent Mendy. However, the National League side's valuation of the player was more than Hearts were willing to pay – not the only time such a scenario unfolded in the second half of the window.
Their eggs were not all in the Mendy basket, however. There were other options, one of which was Leonard.
The 24-year-old had been a bit-part player for Birmingham City in the first half of the season but was still thought of highly by the Championship club. Still, he was far too good to be limited to a role on the fringes.
While not Jamestown Analytics' preferred option, a loan deal was considered a worthwhile option.
McInnes, admittedly, had not followed the midfielder's career that much, aware of his move from Hearts to Brighton and then the successful spell at Northampton Town, which had prompted Birmingham to sign him.
Footage was watched and phone calls were made. It didn't take the Hearts boss long to realise that Leonard was exactly the type of player he was looking for.
McInnes saw similarities to Kenny McLean, who he managed at Aberdeen, and got a glowing report from Scott Wright, a team-mate of Leonard's at Birmingham and another former Dons player under the Hearts head coach.
"There were a few options suggested to us but the fact that he knew the club, the fact that he was Scottish, the fact that there was a lot of added factors for us to make him the guy that we wanted to bring in and once I spoke to Marc I was even more sold on it to be honest," McInnes told Hearts Standard.
"It was a really good conversation and, thankfully, we got him up pretty soon after that. He's a good type as well, he's a Glasgow boy and he likes to get involved, he mixes well with the team, so that side of it is an added bonus as well."
He added: "I think we needed that type [of midfielder]. I still feel every team needs somebody to be that first pass and somebody who the backlot are keen to give to and trust with the ball.
"I think Marc allows the balance for the rest of midfield to be something as long as he's in it and obviously, he handles the ball well, he can play in tight areas, he can play the bigger passes, he can switch to play, he can be effective near an opposition goal with his quality and he can knit the game together.
"I just felt without that type of player, with Cammy and Beni missing, it would be far more challenging."
The Hearts management and players realised Leonard's qualities straightaway. In his first training session ahead of his debut, he stood out.
The same could be said for the opening period at Tynecastle Park against Celtic. But not in a positive manner. The occasion, the intensity, looked like it was set to swallow Leonard whole.
As early as the sixth minute, he saw Benjamin Nygren run off the back of him. He could only pull the midfielder to the ground and Celtic scored from the resultant free-kick. He almost inadvertently set up Nygren later, while he was loose with a couple of passes or crosses.
Talk about a baptism of fire.
You worried at one point that he wouldn't see the second half. But by the time of the interval, he had settled and he had found his breath. Completely understandable considering the circumstances of moving back to Hearts, a club he spent considerable time with as a youngster, having not played too much football in the weeks previous and thrown into a powderkeg clash.
“The last 48 hours have been a bit of carnage for myself," he noted in the aftermath.
He has only continued to grow from that tough opening and only continued to impress, stepping into two big pairs of shoes.
Leonard has yet to play with Devlin, while Baningime has only managed two starts since his new team-mate joined.
Losing two key individuals at such a point in the season could have been devastating. But it hasn't been.
"Cammy, arguably, was as good as anybody in the league, as good as any midfielder in the league when he went out and it's great to have that to come back to, but I think Marc deserves a lot of credit," McInnes noted.
"He's not had a lot of first-team football, he's adapted brilliantly fitness-wise to get to the speed of the game, maybe a bit easier for a British-based player.
"He's been a real plus for us in the fact that we could react in January. If Cammy and Beni's injury had happened in February, it might have had more of an impact on us, but the fact that we could react, the fact that we've got Marc here and as much as we're enjoying him, I think Marc's enjoying us, so it works both ways."
One source involved in recruitment told Hearts Standard, following the move, that it was a "statement signing" and that the 24-year-old possessed the "best bits of Devlin and the best bits of Baningime". A "Swiss Army Knife" capable of playing different midfield roles and someone who "has blood and thunder in him. Presses, works hard, competes and plays with aggression."
Hearts fans have seen that.
Take a couple of the most recent games. Leonard played the deepest of the three midfielders in the win over Aberdeen. He demonstrated his ability to pick a pass, moving the ball wide, and the gritty side, winning the most tackles and interceptions combined.
Last month, in the loss at Rangers, McInnes used him higher up the pitch. He was tasked with following Tochi Chukwuani, and he opened the scoring with a brilliant finish.
Despite being a newcomer and still relatively young, McInnes has been delighted with what Leonard has added to the midfield, both in terms of that ability to mix his play up, but also the personality and confidence, revealing Leonard is "quite demanding" of his team-mates.
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"We expect him to look after the ball and his first training session was terrific and he's just took that on," he said.
"I do think you see his quality when he's near an opposition goal, his goal at Rangers an example, but that final pass, his set-play delivery, all these wee things.
"When he plays more as a six and takes more responsibility if he's playing with Tomas [Magnusson] and Spitz [Bliar Spittal] at times, he always tries to be that first pass, whether it's centre-backs or whether it's full-backs, square passes into them and switches of play and playing forward.
"I do like the fact that he mixes his game up well, he can play in tight areas, he'll manipulate the ball well, but he's got the bigger pass, the switch of play in him and he looks forward as well.
"He's got the skill set to deal with it [whatever role he plays]. I think being part of the midfield two at times, as we've done against Celtic, he's coped with that as well because there are a lot of midfielders who need that extra midfielder, they need the extra one to play.
"Sometimes I've asked a lot of my midfielders this season when there may be only two of them in there, but he's dealt with that as well. He rolls his sleeves up and gets on with it."
As has been noted numerous times before, there is no better pure defensive midfielder in the league than Cammy Devlin. This season, he has been one of the best midfielders, if not the best, full stop.
He is a tour de force, but the graphs below highlight Leonard's positive defensive output in terms of winning the ball back for Hearts.
An area where he is different from Baningime and Devlin is his range. He is more adept at moving the ball across bigger distances. He is really good at improvising to get the ball out to wide areas and he is excellent at ensuring passes maintain the momentum of the attack by feeding it in front of team-mates to run onto.
His average pass length and the percentage of his forward passes are higher than both Devlin's and Baningime's.
He is very effective at progressing the game forward, whether it be through passing into the final third or carrying the ball into the final third (a short sample size, but he is top for deep progressions per 90 minutes). Plus, his long throw has been a welcome addition.
This should not be deemed a criticism of Devlin and Baningime. More a demonstration of the blend of qualities in the centre of the pitch. They are midfielders with some different skillsets and some similar skillsets.
When everyone is fit, McInnes has brilliant options in the centre of the pitch and can pair two of the three in a 4-4-2.
"Cammy's Cammy and Beni's Beni. I've got no problem pairing Beni with any of them, pairing Cammy with any of them, pairing Marc with any of them," McInnes said.
"I think the balance could be good because the way Cammy plays, he's all action, he gets about his work, he's got so many good qualities and so has Beni and so has Marc.
"Good players just like playing with good players."
There is no doubt that Leonard is just that, a good player. Or, as Braga put it, "good at football".
Scotland recognition will come sooner rather than later. And his future will be interesting, his wages perhaps prohibitive to what Hearts could manage regarding making the loan deal permanent.
But, in the here and now, Leonard has lived up to exactly what Hearts and McInnes needed. The perfect January signing. Perhaps the best January addition in the Scottish Premiership.
