Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin believes Connor Barron has all the attributes to become a first team regular at Pittodrie.
The 19-year-old, who spent the first half of the season on loan at League Two leaders Kelty Hearts, has started all four of Goodwin’s matches in charge since the new Dons manager arrived from St Mirren last month.
At 5ft 7in tall Barron is one of the smaller members of the Pittodrie midfield but his manager has been hugely impressed by the youngster’s displays so far.
Goodwin’s lofty comparison highlights how highly he rates Barron and the Dons boss predicts a bright future ahead for the playmaker.
He said: “He is only a little small fella but he has real quality.
“Some of the best players in the world like Iniesta and Xavi were small.
“I think sometimes we get caught up in having to have big physical athletes.
“The wee man can handle the ball, he is brave on it.
“If he carries on with consistent performances like that he will be a mainstay in my team going forward.”
Dons boss’ faith in Barron repaid in impressive Ibrox showing
Goodwin kept faith in the talented teenager following a poor display in the 2-0 loss at Hearts and was delighted to see his backing of the player repaid with an impressive showing against champions Rangers at Ibrox a week ago.
The Aberdeen manager said: “The wee man was excellent.
“He has been great since I came in and was one of the best players against Motherwell in our first game.
“Against Dundee United again, excellent. He had a poor game against Hearts but it would have been easy to take him out and put someone else in.
“I don’t manage like that. Players need to be allowed to have an off day.
“They can’t play with the fear where if they make a couple of bad passes the manager will take me out of the team next week.
“He is honest enough to know that his performance on Wednesday wasn’t good enough.
“We gave him the opportunity to make amends against Rangers and he did that.”
Aberdeen looking for late rally in top six push
Barron’s individual display was not enough to help the Dons avoid defeat in Glasgow a week ago.
The loss leaves Aberdeen in 10th place in the Scottish Premiership with three games of their campaign remaining before the split.
The Dons need to make up a four-point gap on their rivals if they are to force their way into the top half of the table.
Goodwin knows the importance of the remaining three games against Hibernian, Dundee and Ross County for his side but insists the Dons will remain calm ahead of their vital three game run.
He said: “We’re aware of our position in the league table but we’re not going to create more pressure or add more anxiety around the place.
“We have to take each game at a time. There’s no point thinking too far ahead or worrying about the situation.
“We’re desperate for a win regardless of the opposition. We’ve been on a poor run and we need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.
“We have to be professional and focus on the job at hand which is getting levels of performance to where they need to be. Hopefully on the back of that we can pick up positive results.”