Ange Postecoglou believes “really outstanding” Mathys Tel will show his worth to Spurs - once his fitness levels hit the required standard.
Teenager Tel has been thrown in at the deep end since arriving from Bayern Munich on a loan deal that is set to be made permanent in the summer.
But Postecoglou said it would be massively unfair to read too much into his early performances because the French youngster, 19, is not entirely sharp having featured only sporadically in Germany.
And while Postecoglou does not expect Tel to ever become a powerhouse similar to Dominic Solanke, he is sure that he will prove an effective alternative.
“I don’t think he’s going to be that kind of striker but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a really good central striker, there are different types,” Postecoglou said.
“With Mathys, he hadn’t played a lot, we’ve thrown him in and kept him in there because I want to build up his fitness.
“But if anyone is expecting him to come in as a 19-year-old and take the Premier League by storm by scoring multiple goals, it’s not realistic. It just can’t happen.
"What we’re trying to do is work with him. He needs to get his physical fitness up because he hasn’t played a lot of football.
“At 19, I see really outstanding attributes in him that I think he could be a really good No9 and he can play wide as well. He’s not going to be a Dom or (Ipswich’s Liam) Delap, he’s a different type.
“But looking at him in training, his movements are becoming a bit more fluent, he’s getting used to the way we play.”
In particular Postecoglou has been impressed by Tel’s work ethic and willingness to run off the ball. “He’s doing the things we need him to do at the moment to help us,” he added.
“He may not be getting the goals and the accolades but he’s certainly contributing to the way we want to play. That’s the most important thing. He’s got so much growth in him and I’m sure we’ll see that.”
Postecoglou has no fresh injury concerns ahead of Wednesday night's meeting against Manchester City and he is confident that Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Solanke will all be available in the next 10 days.
“Dom’s the only one where we’ve got to be careful because he’s ahead of schedule so I don’t want to push that in case we need to pull the reins in a bit,” he added. “But with Romero and Van de Ven that’s the plan.”