BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club panel discussed Arsenal teenager Max Dowman and how the club will ensure he avoids "high-pressure situations too frequently" during his development.
Since making his competitive debut in the Premier League against Leeds in August, Mikel Arteta has resisted the temptation to rush Dowman into the team.
But he started the FA Cup quarter-final against Southampton on Saturday, in what was his fourth domestic cup appearance this season.
"The club have been really careful with Dowman for a couple of years to make sure he wasn't overexposed and to recognise the fact that he is only just 16," said The Observer's Rory Smith.
"There will be a temptation among fans to say he has no fear, he is completely free and there's no reason for him to think negatively.
"I think the club will be really conscious that you can't put him into intensely high-pressure situations too frequently. They have got to be really careful with him.
"Certainly if you find he's starting five or six games between now and the end of the season, it would be asking a lot of him. That's not to say he's not up to it and there is an argument that if he's good enough, he's old enough.
"But the club will be conscious of their duty of care to him in the long-term."
Watch the full episode on BBC iPlayerand listen on BBC Sounds
