With South African teenager Emile Witbooi undergoing trials at Chelsea, a European youth transfer expert has explained why he would advise against the move.
Cape Town City youngster Witbooi has been given a rare opportunity to trial at The Blues, with the opportunity to be signed should the London club be immediately interested.
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Even though he is only 16, an age where the SAFA/Transnet School of Excellence development product cannot be transferred internationally, according to FIFA regulations, Chelsea would have an option to have a transfer agreement with the Citizens, where they would wait for him to reach 18 before he can represent them.
In contrast to various football personalities, current and former players wishing Witbooi well during his trial, a European scout based in Africa, who prefers to remain anonymous, believes in terms of career progression, moving to the EPL giants as his first team internationally would be a bad choice.
"Obviously, it's a good learning experience. It's nice to go and see a club in a level like that, but whether it's a great move for him, I don't think so," the scout told KickOff.com.
"For a player like Emile, I think he has a huge potential and I'm sure he can go to a Chelsea-level club later on in his career. For his first move, I don't think it's the right thing to do.
"It would be better for him to start at Scandinavia level or a Belgium level, adjust to life and football in Europe and when he's on track, he can go to a much bigger club.
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"If you look at Chelsea's record with young players, it's not great, especially international young players. I would hope the people around him are a little bit smarter, a little bit more patient, but I'm sure when they start to get excited about the numbers they can potentially make, then we'll see," the prominent scout added.