Patrick Vieira taught me loads at Crystal Palace that can help me at Motherwell

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Kofi Balmer learned a lot from World Cup winner Patrick Vieira while at Crystal Palace, and aims to use that to further his career at Motherwell.The 23-year-old played under Vieira during a two-year spell at Palace from 2022-24, and says the Arsenal legend was constantly on at him to improve.But Balmer hopes that will help him kick on at Fir Park and get into the Northern Ireland international set-up.The defender got off to a dream start by heading in the opener in a 3-0 win over Edinburgh City in Motherwell's Premier Sports Cup Group G opener on Saturday.And he said: “Patrick Vieira is a massive name in football worldwide, he’s won big trophies, everything.“So going in and having that sort of person teaching you and keeping you right every day in training was something that you don’t really expect, and for me it was every training session.“He was constantly working on me, with quick feet, games of two-touch to get me moving quickly, and I appreciated everything he did for me.“He gave me the chance to be involved with the first-team there and be on the bench, so that really helped me with my confidence, so that I’ve been able to progress, to get where I am now.“It was difficult in two-touch, he is ruthless, and tries to stitch you up a wee bit, but I’m only going to learn from it.

I have to put up with it and give it back, but it was amazing to be involved with that.”Balmer brings with him a certain level of experience, but says he can only learn more from his Motherwell team-mates.“I’ve had quite a bit of experience myself, playing back home from a young age, and I started at 16,” Balmer said.“I’ve been able to build up that bit of experience but I have to push that to the side when I’m coming in alongside guys like