Even Ange Postecoglou was surprised when James Maddison compared his Tottenham team-mate to Neymar.
Ange Postecoglou's attempt to soften the hype surrounding Mikey Moore has been thwarted by James Maddison's comparisons to Neymar.
Moore starred Thursday's 1-0 Europa League victory over AZ Alkmaar and received a standing ovation when he was substituted in the 87th minute.
And it wasn't just Spurs fans who were dazzled by the winger's promise, with team-mate Maddison giving him the highest praise.
“From minute 45 to 65 I thought we had Neymar on the left wing. “He was brilliant, demanding the ball, brave, with that young, brave mentality and you never want to take that away from him,” Maddison told TNT Sports.
The England international later admitted his comparison to the Brazilian was “ironic”, but his comments did Postecoglou no favors in his own post-match interview when asked about the 17-year-old's performance.
“It was exciting,” Postecoglou said. “I was going to try to downplay it, but I heard Madders called him Neymar!
“The beauty of Mikey is that I know it won't affect him at all. He is such a mature young man and it was very exciting. He was looking forward to the boys passing him the ball.
“He has the ability to beat people, which is the hardest thing to do in our game, apart from scoring goals.
“If he doesn't succeed, that doesn't bother him, he will do it again.
“He just turned 17, even physically he is a very strong man and I know he will improve. He is brilliant, but he is brilliant every time he plays for us.
“We just have to be careful how we use him because for us I think he's going to be a really special player.”
It could have been even better for Moore, who should have opened the scoring five minutes into the game.
4
4
4
The star headed in a precise cross from Timo Werner that touched the post.
“He has to work on his direction; he had a couple of those opportunities,” Postecoglou added.
“He's not the complete product. He's got a really mature outlook. He doesn't let those things faze him.”
Moore has already etched his name in Tottenham history by becoming the youngest player to play in the Premier League at the age of 16 years and 277 days in the 2-0 defeat to city of manchester In May.
His debut made him the 883rd player to receive a unique legacy number which is given to every player in its history who has made a senior competitive appearance for Tottenham Hotspur.
Moore has made six appearances so far this season, three of them in the Europa League and three as a substitute in the Premier League.
