Jason Knight has all the hallmarks of a star international in the making, according to Richard Keogh.
The Derby County midfielder, 18, is turning heads for club and country and received his first Under-21 call-up when picked for the Toulon Tournament.
He has yet to make a first-team appearance for Derby but was on the bench for the Rams’ Championship playoff final defeat to Aston Villa at Wembley last week.
Derby skipper Keogh believes Knight’s game will only develop under the watch of Derby boss Frank Lampard.
Keogh said: “He should get a lot of confidence from the fact that someone like Frank Lampard wants him to be involved.
“He probably sees a bit of himself in Knighty, with his energy up and down the pitch and there's no better manager to work under.
“Frank was the greatest goal scoring midfielder of his generation - 20 goals a season for however many years.
“If Knighty can become anything like that, and bring that to his table, then the world is his oyster.”
Cabinteely man Knight played a key role in Derby’s U18 youth league success this season where they beat Arsenal in the final.
Keogh added: “When he's trained with the first-team, he's left an impression and us tweaking our formation gave him the opportunity to be involved.
“His first game on the bench was Leeds away (in the playoff semi-final) so to experience that was great for him. Now he's with the Under-21s in Toulon.
“He's got a bright future, very energetic, a box-to-box midfielder. He wants to try and score goals.
“He's played No 10 for the youth team, but his best position is number 8, a box to box player. He's got a bright future for Ireland.”
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