Mikel Arteta has said that Max Dowman can learn from Bukayo Saka about being targeted by opponents, with the Arsenal boss admitting that even his teammates' first instinct was to "kick" the teenager in training.
Dowman, 15, has already featured in two Premier League games for Arsenal this season and could make history as the club's youngest-ever starter if he is named in the starting XI against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
Something that has been a feature of the highly-rated youngster's first-team and youth appearances is rough treatment from defenders, and Arteta believes believes Dowman has the perfect role model in Saka.
"For England [Under-19s] against Spain, in the first 40 minutes, it was nine fouls," Arteta said.
"It's going to happen, he's going to have to learn as well when to release the ball, when to attract his starting position. Very similar to Bukayo in the beginning as well.
"Those players are going to attract players, contact, attention and they have to be very smart when you want that contact and when you don't want it, and what you have to do to avoid it.
"He's super smart, his football IQ, the way he makes decisions, the way he moves, he does it naturally."
Arteta, though, is still open to starting Dowman, who scored for Arsenal's reserve team at the weekend, at Port Vale.
"He just gets up," Arteta stated. "[That is] very rare! Sometimes I get surprised emotionally how cool he can be.
"I think it's about repetition. He's so used to it, that now he knows that let the referee deal with it and my teammates probably to defend me, and I will carry on playing."
The Arsenal head coach also recalled how Dowman was treated when first training with Arsenal's first team as a 14-year-old last year.
"At the beginning, they responded immediately -- kick him!" he joked. "That was the first one, and Max, to be fair, he was excellent, stood up, and got to the next one.
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"You can really take it personally, of someone who was 14 last year, at some point when he was doing certain things to players, and now everybody loves him. You just want to hug him, help him. He's such a nice boy as well and he's very much liked by everybody here.
"It brings responsibility to look after somebody with that talent and make sure we just do what we have to do to make sure we're given the best chance to exploit his talent, that's all.
"We need to be cautious and that's what we are trying to do in the best possible way to find that balance to keep Max as connected as possible with the first team because he's undoubtedly a player that can help the first team.
"But that's why we need the right mixture of minutes like he did the other day with the under-23s and with England, to have that exposure when he needs to play with us, he's ready to do that."