The former DR Congo international midfielder has been a revelation in the Baggies engine room over the last 10 months, having formed an effective defensive midfield partnership with Paul Scharner. Appleton, a player of some note in the same position for Preston North End and Albion, is pleased for Mulumbu but insists he is far from the finished article. Appleton told the Express and Star: "He's still only 24 and, as a midfield player myself, I know it wasn't until the season before I got injured, when I was 27, when all of a sudden I'd experienced playing a couple of seasons at a decent level and realised you don't have to run as much. "You know where and when to make the runs because you're a little bit more clued up, you're more experienced and you tend to hold your position a little bit more. "I think he'll do that and he's started to do that this year. There's lot of areas he can improve in. Out of possession, his skills are improving all the time. "He's still learning the central midfield role in terms of what the manager wants. The two central midfielders have got a hell of a lot of responsibility in terms of the way we play. "He's still coming to terms with that."
