Tyler Adams: "An honour to be compared to Joshua Kimmich"

Adams, 22, joined Leipzig from New York Red Bulls in January 2019, when Rangnick was juggling duties as the club's first-team coach and sporting director.

Rangnick also coached Kimmich in the latter part of the 2014/15 Bundesliga 2 season, shortly before the now Germany international moved to record champions Bayern Munich, where he has forged a reputation as one of the most tenacious midfielders in world football.

Watch: Ralf Rangnick on Tyler Adams and the Bundesliga's American imports

"Like Joshua, Tyler has an unbelievable will to win," Rangnick told bundesliga.com recently. "He wants to win every match and every training game. He wants to improve and listens. He's never satisfied. The sky is the limit."

Adams responded in an interview with timesnownews.com by saying: "It's an honor to be compared with one of the best players in Europe. I've known Ralf [Rangnick] for some time now, and I highly regard his opinion because he's an extraordinary expert in football. So, I'm flattered by his remarks."

As well as a heart-on-the-sleeve, terrier-like personality, Adams also shares similar playing attributes with Kimmich. Both have experience of playing at right-back and even in central defence, but are most at home in the centre of the field.

"Holding midfielder," Adams responded, when pressed on his preferred position, echoing the thoughts of his former mentor. "I prefer to see him in central midfield because then he's at the heart of the action," said Rangnick.

"I don't like to see him out wide, although he can do that well and that makes him valuable to the team and to Julian [Nagelsmann]. I see him similarly to Kimmich, in central midfield as a six or an eight."

It's not just Rangnick who has made an impression on Adams - as well as vice versa. Adams also credits current Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann - who will take over from Hansi Flick at Bayern in the summer - for helping shape his development.

"Both have just brought tremendous impact on football and on my game," explained Adams, the 12-time US international having recently surpassed 50 appearances in the Bundesliga.

"Ralf gave me the opportunity to take my first steps in European football and helped me with his enormous experience. Julian helped me to take my game to the next level, especially with the ball.

"I am very fortunate to be able to learn from such great football brains."