Brighton's Carlos Baleba speaks after full Premier League debut

He freely admits there is not too much English coming out of his own mouth just yet.

But he has let his football do the talking, as they say, when he has got the chance.

And never more eloquently than his part in a 2-2 draw with Liverpool which saw him run himself almost to a standstill.

It has taken a while for us to see the summer signing from Lille truly express himself in Seagulls colours.

There was the last third of the game against Bournemouth and then, most notably, all the Liverpool match.

He also started at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup but found it a tough experience.

Not that we have heard that much from him just yet about how he is settling in.

A relatively brief first post-match interview on Sunday made one realise just how young he is.

He looks a lot younger when talking face-to-face than he does seen from a distance bossing things in midfield.

Baleba also comes across as quite shy - understandably so as a teenager away from home talking for the first time to someone he doesn’t know.

But apparently he is a bit of a character and there were a couple of laughs along the way, like when he was asked about heated scenes on the bench at Marseille after Joao Pedro’s penalty Or when talk turned to exactly how tired he was late in the Liverpool game.

Actually, the key comments on Sunday came from his head coach, openly talking about him as the Moises Caicedo replacement or as potentially one of Europe’s top midfielders.

Roberto De Zerbi chooses words carefully. There are times in press conferences when he will give players not in the team a surprise mention, maybe so us reporters do not forget about them.

Or he might offer some measured criticism of a player he suspects we are all poised to go overboard about (a great example: Julio Enciso at Chelsea last season).

So he will not have made those comments about Baleba lightly.

The line about him potentially being one of the best of his type in Europe was the very last sentence of his press conference before he got up and headed elsewhere.

Baleba was given just long enough to get up to speed on all he must know to be part of the Albion team effort.

And, thrown in from the start against one of the most famous clubs in the world, he did well.

Maybe it is telling that he politely turned down an interview request after the Bournemouth game, feeling he had not done enough.

This time, he was willing to give his views on his first Prem start.

The 19-year-old told The Argus: “My first full 90 minutes went well.

“It was a big match for me and for the team but it ended as a 2-2 draw. We got a point we needed.

“The Premier League is a bit of a change for me with the intensity here and the speed of the game.

“I needed to adapt more quickly but then to make my full debut was a great joy for me.

“I go home really happy with my performance, and especially with the performance of the team.

“We go home with a point, it’s not too bad.

“The big challenge for me is to always keep moving forward and work to be the best I can and rtro have the great qualities to help the team.

“My daily challenge is just to work hard.”

There is a bit more to it than that, though.

He would also love to get his name on the scoresheet, something he looked to do with a shot from the edge of the box after a storming run down the middle.

It was a decent effort which brought a big “oooohhhh” from an impressed crowd.

That said, there might have been better options around him.

If he can chip in with goals – and if we really have to compare players – it is an area where he might even have an edge on the magnificent Caicedo or Yves Bissouma.

Baleba said: “My aims for the rest of the season are to score my first goal and to help the team keep going forward show what I am capable of the people, to the fans.

“Show what I know I can do and keep helping the team finishing as high as we can.”

There have been moments on the pitch when Baleba has shown he will stick up for team-mates.

And off it as well, as a social media clip which went viral showed following angry scenes between Albion substitutes and Marseille fans.

Baleba was at the (dis)advantage of understanding the insults which rained down from home supporters near the bench after Joao Pedro’s spot kick.

He laughed when reminded of that and said: “I knew all about the Marseille experience from last season with Lille.

“At Marseille they have always been like that.

“If you are on the bench you are going to be insulted, spat on, have things aimed at you.

“For me, I did that for them to shut up, that football isn’t a war, it isn’t insults.

“You have to play, support and encourage your team in good and bad times and be always optimistic and positive about victory for your team.”

There was no time on the more friendly subs bench at the Amex on Sunday.

He started the game and was still going at the end, although he looked like he might not get up again after hitting the deck a couple of times in the closing stages.

There was a yellow card too, taking one for the team to halt a late Liverpool counter raid.

Perhaps it was fitting that the last act of the match was the young Cameroonian clearing a cross.

He said: “At the end of the game, I was really tired. There was some cramp.

“But that did not stop me running, to run back and help defend my goal and commit a foul which enabled us to win the ball back after their free-kick.”

That said a lot about his work ethic and willingness to battle on.

Saying a lot off the pitch isn’t so easy at the moment but it will come.

He admitted: “I don’t really speak English but I’m taking lessons.

“I can understand people but the words don’t really come out of my mouth very well yet!

“I speak more with Simon (Adingra), Ansu Fati – well, nearly all the group and they speak to me in English and I understand.

“I try to talk and if I don’t have the words I use a bit of sign language and we understand each other.”