WHETHER it is through age, settling down with a girlfriend or working under a foreign manager he has a bond with, Lee Cattermole has changed. He has matured off the pitch and adapted his game to suit a continental style on it.

Will it continue? There’s every chance it will. Rightly or wrongly, Cattermole has courted controversy. Whether it was his involvement in off-the-field predicaments, the red cards or the sheer brutality of some of his crunching tackles, he built a reputation that even Gus Poyet arrived on Wearside 13 months ago believing.

Poyet now admits his preconception of the Stockton-born midfielder was wrong. Cattermole had problems earlier in his career, but he has learned from them – even if he felt he was not fairly treated for some of his actions when they received nationwide coverage.

But now aged 26 his priorities are changing – and this international break shows it. To recharge his batteries, did he head for footballers paradise Dubai or warmer climes? No.

“I have just been to Iceland walking for three days with my girlfriend, which was great,” he said. “I didn’t think much of the capital, Reyjkavik, but we went to the Blue Lagoon, the volcanoes, to see the geysers, the waterfalls and we also saw the northern lights, which were incredible.

“It was something very different and we were very limited with only having three days off. It was amazing. I didn’t know anything about the country before I went there but seeing the sights made it an incredible experience. I thoroughly loved it.”

He added: “I have had a couple of incidents during my career which people have read too much into. They say he is this or that. There are ways of dealing with it.

“Maybe I am dealing with it better as I am getting older. I have matured and I even have a girlfriend now! When anyone is 26 they look back to when they were 18 and there is a world of difference. I am no different.”

Despite his disciplinary problems as a footballer, Cattermole has always been willing to talk and not shy away from expressing an opinion. It is his honesty, which comes out in his performances, and has endeared him to Sunderland’s fans.

He returns from his latest ban, a one-game suspension for collecting five yellow cards, against Leicester City today and has become a key component of the system Poyet has Sunderland working to. That seemed a million miles away when he was on the verge of a January move to Stoke.

“The manager coming in has been a big help to me and I think I have helped myself as well. It hasn’t all been rosy,” said Cattermole. “I have done a few bad back passes along the way but the manager has asked me to do a different role in the team and I knew in pre-season this was going to be a big opportunity for me.

“He told me in no uncertain terms that in the position I play in, if I don’t do what he wants then I won’t play. I listened and learned when Ki Sung-Yueng played that role and Liam Bridcutt. I feel more comfortable in that role, even though he does restrict me a bit.

“I have a lot of energy and sometimes I have to hold myself back on the pitch. I have to limit myself a little bit. It’s what the manager wants and that has helped a lot because he is very clear about what he wants me to do. Half of it is stopping the opposition playing and we don’t always get a lot of credit for that.

“It was a clean slate from day one under Gus. I had a real bond with Steve Bruce and Martin O’Neill because I am a real man’s man. But Gus is very much my kind of person, very English minded. He has been here a long time and when he came he was happy to give everyone a clean slate.”

During a 25-minute interview, Cattermole often drifted off to talking tactics, moving his hands around to express the positioning players might take up. He has listened carefully to what the likes of Graeme Souness and Gary Neville have been saying in the media about games; and not always or only about Sunderland.

Cattermole is determined to improve, take things in and become a better player along the way. His approach suggests that he will end up being a manager.

“I think about football all of the time,” he said. “I am my biggest critic by a mile. Probably most footballers are like that. I am always criticising myself. After what I have been through, I am a lot stronger now. I am proud of myself for the way I dealt with everything.

“How I think and look at things makes me think I would love to coach in the future. I would definitely be interested in going down that avenue. I have always said I would like to do that because I have been the captain in every team I have ever played.

“I must have some leadership skills. I would love to have a go at it. Four or five years down the line I will start to seriously think about it. I just try to pick up little things from each manager.”

Cattermole is benefiting from the new approach, Sunderland are too.