James Maddison glowingly compared Mikey Moore to Neymar after the Tottenham teenager’s electric performance against AZ Alkmaar.
The 17-year-old winger was handed just his second start of the season for Spurs in the Europa League on Thursday night, looking to build on his impressive display against Ferencvaros in Hungary earlier this month.
Moore recovered from missing an early close-range header to deliver a phenomenal second-half performance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, bamboozling the AZ Alkmaar defence with a series of brilliant runs and crosses as he confidently demanded the ball over and over again and inspired Spurs to their third consecutive victory in the new-look competition - sealed by Richarlison’s clever penalty.
The popular and highly-rated academy graduate was given a standing ovation by an adoring home crowd when he was replaced by the fit-again Wilson Odobert late on, with manager Ange Postecoglou effusive in his praise of Moore.
There were also glowing words from Maddison, Tottenham’s stand-in captain on the night in the absence of the rested Heung-min Son who proved a point after being hooked at half-time of Saturday’s thumping win over London rivals West Ham in the Premier League.
“From minute 45 to 65, I thought we had Neymar on the left wing,” Maddison smiled in a post-match interview on the pitch with TNT Sports. “He was brilliant. He 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’s got all the ability. It is about knuckling down and keep working hard which he does to be fair to him.”
