James Maddison compared Tottenham teenager Mikey Moore to Neymar after a dazzling second-half display in a hard-fought 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar.
Spurs stayed perfect in the Europa League with a third consecutive victory after Richarlison’s 53rd-minute penalty.
It occurred after an awkward exchange between Richarlison and Maddison, which eventually saw the Brazil forward allowed to take the spot-kick and chip home for his first goal since May, but it was the display of 17-year-old Moore that caught the eye.
After Moore moved to his favoured left-wing position at the start of the second half, he immediately burst past a handful of AZ defenders before he set up Brennan Johnson and regularly raced beyond Seiya Maikuma during a terrorising spell, which showed why boss Ange Postecoglou gave him a second start.
“From minute 45 to 65, I thought we had Neymar on the left wing! (Moore) was brilliant,” Maddison told TNT Sports.
“Demanded the ball, fearless. That young fearless mentality, you never want to take that away from him.
“He’s a young kid, a brilliant lad. He’s a lovely boy, takes on information and he has got bags of ability. So, I will be there as an older player, hopefully with some wise words, to help him along the way. He has all the ability. It is about knuckling down and keep working hard which he does to be fair to him.”
Moore could have marked his first home start with a goal after five minutes but headed wide from a fine Timo Werner cross.
It was a rare blot on an otherwise successful night for the Spurs academy graduate and Postecoglou admitted it was another exciting performance.
Postecoglou added: “It’s pretty hard for me to keep a lid on it now ain’t it?! He was exciting. You cannot deny it. There is no point denying it.
“I love the way Mikey is taking it all in his stride, he works hard every day. He wants to develop, he understands that this is a journey.
“It’s very easy for a young guy like him, who has just turned 17, to feel like he has somehow made it, but you ever get that sense. It’s exciting, is it.
“You have got such a young player, who wants that responsibility to make an impact, rather than just sometimes with young players they are a bit worried about making mistakes. He is developing well.
“We have to be really careful about how we use him and when we use him, that is the key for us, particularly in these early stages.
“I have no fear throwing him in. absolutely not. I know and I see it every day, he’s a great young player and definitely more to come.
“The thing that gives me most confidence is how he is handling everything. I don’t think if he does hear what Madders said about him will affect him tomorrow. That’s the key thing for us.”
Spurs boss Postecoglou was also content with the way Richarlison and Maddison handled the penalty incident where Rodrigo Bentancur had to intervene to tell the Brazil forward to give the ball to the stand-in captain.
“As long as they score, it doesn’t really bother me,” Postecoglou said.
“I thought Madders was outstanding today. I think he sensed in that moment Richy’s worked awfully hard and he’s kind of got his season started tonight.
“Goals are important for strikers, so I thought Madders made a great decision to give him the responsibility but Richy had to put it in the back of the net and he did that.”