Danny Cowley details his Portsmouth plans for Dane Scarlett - and makes Tottenham Hotspur pledge

And the Blues head coach has pledged to Spurs that he will handle with care the 18-year-old who ‘lit up’ his maiden south-coast training session.

The capture of England under-19 international has understandably been met with great enthusiasm from the Fratton faithful.

While Spurs fans will be closely monitoring the Pompey progress of a starlet they hold in immense regard.

Scarlett joins a striking pool consisting of fellow loanee Joe Pigott and Colby Bishop ahead of Saturday’s League One launch at Sheffield Wednesday.

And Cowley is relishing utilising the talented youngster.

He told The News: ‘Dane lit yesterday’s training session up, that’s the quality he has, that explosive movement and the quality of his finishing.

‘He’s a number nine, he’s a centre-forward. You never say never about playing him on the wing, but we see him as a number nine.

‘He loves to get out of the eyeline, runs off the back of defenders, he has excellent double movement and a really good understanding of the timing of his runs and the type of runs to make.

‘Against the ball he has this aggressiveness and robustness, along with a real intelligence of how to press and defend from the front, which is a quality we like.

‘He’s a boy Tottenham think an awful lot of and we are really appreciative they trust us with Dane – and when we speak to the guys at England, they think an awful lot of him too.

‘Dane brings us pace and power, he’s only 18 but has had some incredible experiences in such a short career.

‘He played and trained with Tottenham’s first-team for the majority of last season, while featured in some Europa Conference League games and this summer with England under-19s.

‘If we see the true Dane Scarlett, then we’ll have a really good player.’

In recent seasons, Cowley has overseen the development of Arsenal’s Emile Smith Rowe and former Manchester City keeper Gavin Bazunu.

And he’s looking to handle the latest Premier League youngster under his wing just as effectively.

He added: ‘We know exactly where Dane’s going to go as a young player, we have no doubt about the level he’s going to be capable of playing.

‘But we are also really respectful that he’s young and experiencing senior football for the very first time.

‘We’ll try to provide him with as safe and secure an environment as we can, so he can feel confident to be himself.

‘We will get to know him and try to build and grow a relationship, then, once he understands that, we’ll try to find that balance between stretching him and supporting him.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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