Ange Postecoglou will continue to be careful with Tottenham winger Mikey Moore, but would consider handing the 17-year-old a full Premier League debut at Crystal Palace with captain Son Heung-min “unlikely” to feature.
Moore made only his second Spurs start in Thursday’s 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League and after he again caught the eye, team-mate James Maddison made a tongue-in-cheek reference that it was like Brazilian Neymar played on the wing.
With Son still not 100 per cent after he reported muscle soreness at the start of this week, Moore is in contention to feature against Palace.
“He is ready to start any game but I just feel and especially with young players you need to be really careful with their introduction into senior football,” Postecoglou said.
“Even last year, he didn’t really have a full season of football, he had quite a few injuries, a couple of injuries that kept him out and he went from playing under-18s football to very little under-21s football before we integrated him. You have to look at that.”
“I think he is still physically growing and you take that into account. I think he’s ready to start a Premier League game, for sure.”
“For us what we want to do is to continue to develop Mikey in the right way and give him a platform to keep improving. So far whatever we’ve asked of him, he’s made a real impact and the plan is to continue to do that.”
The absence of Son, who only returned from a hamstring injury to score against West Ham on Saturday, opened the door for Moore to make his full home debut on Thursday.
Postecoglou had hoped the South Korean may be fit to face Palace, but was more downbeat on Friday.
He added: “Sonny is still not right or feeling 100 per cent. He won’t train today and so unlikely for the weekend and we’ll see how he is beyond that.”
It could be a straight shoot-out between Moore and Timo Werner for the left-wing spot despite a difficult period in front of goal for the Germany international.
After Werner was replaced at half-time against AZ, Moore moved from the right wing into his favoured spot on the left and went on several mazy runs.
However, Postecoglou expects the Spurs academy graduate to keep his feet on the ground and hopes to simply be his manager in four years time.
“I think Mikey just wants to be Mikey and like I said after the game, what I see with him is that he’s very mature for a 17-year-old, he handles things really well,” Postecoglou added.
“It’s exciting because it filters through the whole club and everyone in the academy will take enormous pride in that. The whole club feels good about seeing someone come through the programme.”
“As a manager, you are excited that at 17 you have a player who is showing maturity and a mindset where he is giving himself every chance to be the best player he can be.”
“Sometimes young players are exciting but you can see pitfalls down the road, but I don’t see that with him. At 17, you think what is he going to be like at 21 and hopefully I am the manager then!”
