Declan Rice heaped praise on Myles Lewis-Skelly after the teenager starred in Arsenal's north London derby against Tottenham on Wednesday night.
Lewis-Skelly, 18, has broken into the Arsenal first team in recent weeks, excelling as a left-back despite playing most of his youth career as a midfielder.
He put in another fine performance in the Emirates on Wednesday as Arsenal came from behind to secure a 2-1 win and move almost four points clear of leaders Liverpool.
After the match, Rice praised Lewis-Skelly's fearless approach and compared him to ex-Tottenham and Fulham midfielder Moussa Dembele.
“It's scary,” Rice told TNT Sports when discussing Lewis-Skelly's abilities. “I said the 18-year-olds now have no fear whatsoever.
“There were four or five times he had that Moussa Dembele quality. He uses his body to get away from stuff. To show that at the age of 18 is incredible.”
Lewis-Skelly has kept more seasoned professionals such as Oleksandr Zinchenko and Riccardo Calafiori out of the team since he was given his chance by Mikel Arteta.
Rice expects the youngster to eventually return to midfield but believes his versatility can only be a strength moving forward as he tipped Lewis-Skelly for international honours.
“He's a midfielder by trade, he can play 6 and 8,” Rice added. “It's incredible to know these roles at 18. Who knows what England has in store for him.'
Arteta was equally impressed with Lewis-Skelly after he held his own against Tottenham's dangerous attackers.
“He was phenomenal again today,” Arteta said. “He's a real personality and has a real attitude, which you need to play against (Dejan) Kulusevski and (Brennan) Johnson. The way he handled the situation and opportunity was top notch.”
Rio Ferdinand knows a thing or two about defending, and he was also impressed with the way Lewis-Skelly handled himself when facing Kulusevski and Johnson.
Ferdinand said: 'To handle both of them as he did, he deserves a lot of credit.'
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