Pep Guardiola insists there is no doubt that young centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo has a future in the Manchester City first team.
The England U19 international has started and impressed in both of City's pre-season friendlies against Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich so far.
Guardiola, who is keen to promote young players into his first team this term, heaped praise on the 18-year-old and hopes he can guide the defender to realise his potential.
"One or two months ago, when we finished the season, I was sent a lot of highlights about the academy players; about Tosin, Brandon Barker, Bersant Celina, Manu Garcia and Aleix Garcia," Guardiola explained.
"We had an idea about them and trained with them all pre-season. Tosin has a lot of steps to get him better. It's not done, but he has all the quality.
"He is fast, strong in the air, and has the quality to look forward behind the line for the next pass. He definitely has a future in the first team
"I don't know what will happen when Vincent Kompany comes back. Until August 31, a lot of things can happen. But if you ask me today, yes, he will be our player.
"He is a nice guy, his mind is open, he listens, he trains every day like it's the last training of his life and I like to work with these kinds of players a lot.
"He has his whole career ahead of him. He doesn't have to defend anything, saying; 'I did that, I was this, I won this'. Against true, tough teams - Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich - he played very well.
"He has a lot of things to improve and I hope we can help him to develop his skills."
Guardiola was speaking in Sweden ahead of City's final friendly against Arsenal on Sunday. They play Sunderland in their opening Premier League game of the season.