Pep Guardiola described Liam Delap as a "killer" after he finally made his Manchester City return after six months of injury trouble.
The 18-year-old almost capped his 15-minute appearance as a substitute by heading in Ilkay Gundogan 's cross as the Blues beat Fulham 4-1 in the FA Cup, only for the linesman's flag to rule it out for offside.
But Guardiola gave the youngster the ultimate boost by extolling his virtues, and mentioning how, despite his tender years, he can physically dominate senior pros.
Delap was on the brink of a big first team chance in the summer, with City left with no strikers after the failure to land Harry Kane, but an ankle injury saw him miss the three pre-season games as well as the opening months of the season.
He came back, playing 200 minutes for the under-23 side, but ten picked up the same injury in his other ankle, and has been out since.
Delap has also had to deal with the fact that City last week signed a new striker, paying £14million for Julian Alvarez, although he is not set to link up with the Blues until the summer - when they are also expected to make another big-money move for Erling Haaland or Kane.
But Guardiola sang his praises, saying: "Liam last season grew up a lot especially with (under-23 coach) Enzo Maresca helping him to develop. He is a type of striker we don’t have, a killer, typical British striker.
"The only problem was injured and after injured and after injured, he struggled a lot with his ankles but he has a special quality.
"The (disallowed) goal is offside. OK but he was there and it was a goal."
Guardiola also said that Delap has no need to be fazed by the signing of 22-year-old Alvarez.
"These guys are 18, 19 years old," he said. "One of the precious values you have to have is to be patient.
"But if you do it always will pay off and always you will get what you deserve. Nobody knows what is going to happen next season.
"We are still in this season, many players will come or not, nobody knows so he has to work for himself, be fit and yeah was nice (to play in the) FA Cup against top of the Championship.
"He's a special striker we don’t have, a lovely guy, fighter, every training session, every time he fights and wins the duels or break his nose.
"Fight and fight and fight and right moment he is good. For the quality he has he will get what he deserves."
