Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Steve Harper has heaped praise on Ayoze Perez, describing the Spanish forward as a "quality, quality footballer".

The 22-year-old was on target for the Magpies last weekend as they recorded an impressive win at White Hart Lane to lift them out of the relegation zone in the Premier League.

"I like the Perez-[Aleksandar] Mitrovic combination," Harper, who played in the North-East for 20 years, told talkSPORT. "They're both young players, so if you leave them in there they are going to have dips but he's handled them quite well.

"As a youngster, [Perez] is going to have ups and downs. They paid £1.8m for him, he looks like one they could sell on. He looks a quality, quality footballer and he's made that number 10 role his own.

"As a link-up player technically, he's very good but he needs to add consistency to get into the teams with the big boys."

Steve McClaren's men host basement side Aston Villa in Saturday's evening kickoff.