Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte believes that Bryan Gil shares similar qualities to Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva.
The 21-year-old has only earned fleeting opportunities in the Tottenham attack, with Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min all ahead of him in the pecking order.
Even with Kulusevski and Richarlison out through injury, Gil has not been able to force his way into the starting lineup, with Conte often opting for a 3-5-2 setup.
The Italian reverted to a 3-4-3 for Wednesday's Champions League clash with Sporting Lisbon, but it was Lucas Moura who was given the nod in the front three despite a recent tendon injury.
However, Gil was brought on in the second half and made a major impact for Tottenham, who recovered from a goal down to draw 1-1, but Kane was denied a winner by VAR right at the death due to a marginal offside call.
Following his bright cameo in midweek, there have been calls for Gil to make his first-ever Premier League start when Tottenham lock horns with Bournemouth on Saturday.
Conte was asked about Gil's qualities in his pre-game press conference, during which he likened the Spaniard to Silva but believes that he still has work to do physically to reach the next level.
"I believe in Gil otherwise I don't risk a player in the Champions League. I try to find the right moment for when he can be useful for the situation," football.london quotes Conte as saying.
"I have seen good improvement. I am sure about Gil's future because we are talking about a player who sees football. If I have to compare Gil with someone, maybe I can see him like Bernardo Silva at City. For me in this moment physically he is not strong but we are talking about this type of player."
Conte has confirmed that Kulusevski and Richarlison are both still absent ahead of Saturday's trip to the Vitality Stadium, but Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg were both passed fit to start against Sporting.
Decisions on the pair were taken on the morning of the game after they both missed training on Tuesday, and while Hojbjerg has now fully recovered from his thigh issue, Romero is not quite at 100%.
As a result, Conte has hinted that Romero could do with a rest this weekend before next week's crucial Champions League clash with Marseille, adding: "We have taken a big, big risk for this decision.
"Especially for Cuti, for Romero. Because he was really tired and we risked him a lot. But you know for this time of game you have to take risks and he gave us the availability to play.
"Now we have to manage him very well because he played and finished the game with great will & desire. I had to thank him and Pierre. I think Cuti needed to recover better but Pierre is OK 100%.
"Cuti is OK but we have another important game on Tuesday and for this reason we try to make the best decision for him."
Tottenham remain third in the Premier League table despite suffering back-to-back defeats to Manchester United and Newcastle United this month, but Chelsea and Manchester United - who both have games in hand - are only two and three points worse off respectively. body check tags ::
