Nathan Redmond has encouraged Michael Obafemi to play without fear since breaking into the first team.
The 18-year-old striker made his first senior start in last week’s Carabao Cup tie at Leicester, and his first Premier League start against Manchester United on Saturday, impressing with his energy and enthusiasm.
Redmond, who has played up alongside Obafemi, says the established first-team players are well aware of the youngster’s talent.
“I’ve played up front a few times before, albeit now I think I’m a little bit more mature mentally to take on the task,” he said of the role.
“Michael is young, he’s energetic and hungry. I just told him to almost stay a little bit naïve, play with no fear and play what’s got you to where you are now.
“Everyone has seen from the clips of the Under-23s what he can do.”
Redmond was stood over the 20th minute free-kick from which Cédric scored his first Premier League goal, firing Saints 2-0 ahead against United.
“There’s myself, there’s Cédric, Jannik (Vestergaard), Pierre (Højbjerg), Ryan (Bertrand)… there’s a few boys who can take free-kicks,” he added.
“At the end of the day, if somebody comes up to you and says ‘I fancy it’… I actually said to him ‘go on then, put it in and we’ll celebrate over here’.
“I could see his reaction when he looked at me – he’s got tremendous technique and you saw it there.”
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