Adelaide United young gun Al Hassan Toure is weighing up his international future amid pleas from Reds' football director Bruce Djite to maintain perspective.
Toure's breakout season with the A-League outfit has caught the attention of his parents' native Liberia and also put him on the Socceroos' radar.
Djite spoke at length with Toure and his parents on Tuesday night and says the 19-year-old attacker is yet to commit to either country.
"The decision is completely up to him and I'm not going to sway him in any way ... it's a really personal decision," Djite told AAP on Wednesday.
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"The most important message that I could give him was: 'You're in a small pond in Adelaide and it's very easy to become a big fish here but just keep everything in perspective.'"
Toure, who was born in West Africa's Guinea, migrated to Australia with his parents aged four.
"He's surrounded by humble parents; they don't want to get involved, they just want the best for their son," Djite said.
Liberia's coach Peter Butler has contacted Adelaide about a potential release of Toure during November's nine-day FIFA international window.
His stocks have risen suddenly after a stunning cup campaign which reaped five goals and the Mark Viduka medal for best-afield in Adelaide's FFA Cup Final win.
Toure, who only made his Adelaide debut in August in the cup's opening round, also scored on A-League debut.
"This is obviously a very positive story and it's going to get a lot of public attention for a number of reasons," Djite said.
"And one of them is the lack of emerging high-level talent [in Australia].
"So whenever there is someone who shows a glimmer of hope, everyone jumps on to it and that is part of the reason so many are talking about Al Hassan."
Toure had the temperament to "block all the noise out" while deciding his future.
"I told him, you don't need agents, you don't need any of these outside influences because none of them helped you to do what you're doing now," Djite said.
"There's coaches and football directors all over the world dealing with young kids with all the talent and not the mentality.
"One of the real strengths of Al Hassan is his mentality; it's fantastic, the way he goes about his business, the way he carries himself.
"It's something he needs to keep because you have seen it a thousand times before in all different walks of life, people with all the skill and talent in the world and just mentally they can't deal with it and ... it ends up being a sort of ball and chain to their potential success."