Aston Villa boss Dean Smith believes the impressive form of Douglas Luiz is down to his improved English.
The Brazilian has just passed an English language exam.
"That makes a massive difference, it certainly helped him mixing with the players," Smith explained.
"You're always on the periphery if you're not understanding what the others are saying and now he's got a really good grasp of the language.
"The exams were an external thing, you have to do certain ones to continue with your visa.
"He's passed that now, and the lads have been having a bit of a laugh with him because he keeps saying things like: 'The television is next to the table!'
Smith added: "He needed to understand his teammates a lot more, I don't just mean in English, I mean the type of passes they want to receive from him and where they like him to be.
"Football is about relationships on the pitch and knowing one another, strengths and weaknesses, he needed to get to know the players more.
"The language has helped that. But the break has also helped him become a fitter player.
"What gets forgotten is he walked in the door two days before the Tottenham game at the start of the season.
"There wasn't an awful lot of pre-season Douglas had with us. Now he's got a really good understanding of what we are about."
