Teddy has stayed in England as the pre-season tour continues towards the final game in Sweden on Monday night, and Alan is looking forward to seeing how Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood respond to working with him.
"Teddy is not just here to play, he will guide these two young guys and pass on a little bit of his magic to them," he enthuses.
"We will be meeting up in the early part of this week and I am well pleased with his signing.
"He is a terrific player; we know he is not going to play 46 games and he is realistic enough to know that won't be achievable for him next year - it is a situation that myself and Teddy have to manage well.
"But there are going to be games where we need his quality, and certainly last year we were crying out for it, especially at home sometimes.
"It is the whole package; he is a fantastic professional and when you put that alongside the levels he keeps himself at he is going to be a massive asset to us.
"He brings people into the game, he is a fantastic link player, and of course he scores goals.
"With what I think are the best two young strikers outside the Premiership he is going to be a fantastic asset for them and that is part of his brief - to pass that experience on."