And to further add to the wealth of tantalising quality the young African possesses, he displayed a coolness well beyond his years when slotting home the fourth of Nigeria's spot kicks during their 6-5 win on penalties over Tunisia in the quarter-final of the African Nations' Cup yesterday.

There are many teenagers blessed with extraordinary talent, of course, but what was so striking was the feeling that he was meant, even at that age, to be on the international stage. Others might perhaps have played themselves slowly into the game, but Obi Mikel immediately appointed himself as deadball specialist, and it was from his delivery that Christian Obodo headed the opener.

Three minutes later, gathering the ball on the left, he meandered infield, fooled defender and goalkeeper with a feint to shoot, and then calmly curved a 20-yard finish inside the upright. His subsequent celebration could hardly have been more nonchalant. "He's definitely worth all the talk around him, " Daniel Amokachi, the former Everton forward and now Nigeria's assistant coach, said. "For a player of just 18, he's very confident and comfortable on the ball." His precociousness and his sense of belonging inevitably draw comparisons with Wayne Rooney. "I remember when Wayne was that young at Everton and he had that composure and that belief in himself, " Nigeria's captain Joseph Yobo said. "That's very important. John's a young lad, and one of the good things about him is that he's not a quiet one; he likes to socialise with the older guys." Obi Mikel was an even earlier developer than Rooney, making his top-flight debut for his local side, Plateau United, at 15.

He is so young that he counts Thierry Henry as his childhood idol. He may play in a different position, but there was something of Henry in the imagination and audacity of the dummy that led to his goal against Zimbabwe.

Four days later, against Senegal, his impact was less dramatic but, deployed in the centre if an attacking midfield trident, he still impressed with his distribution, and set up another in a 2-1 win.

That Obi Mikel was in any kind of state to play is evidence of his mental strength.

Earlier that day news had broken of United's letter to Fifa calling for Chelsea to be banned from transfer activity for a year and to be expelled from various competitions for their conduct in attempting to sign him.

"Everyone around him, his family and friends, have looked after him very well, " Yobo said. "He's put the problems to one side, and tried to let his football do the talking." His agent, John Shittu, was still doing a fair amount of talking this week, making accusations of racism, corruption and forgery against officials of Manchester United and Lyn, the Norwegian club he played with to gain experience.

The exact truth of those allegations will take some determining, but what is not in dispute is Mikel's ability. "He might be even better than people are saying, " Jay-Jay Okocha said. "He is maybe the best I have ever seen."