Sol Sidibe: Stoke boss Alex Neil delighted by 16-year-old's first start

Sol Sidibe, who first joined Stoke when he was eight, now has a three-year contract with the club

Stoke boss Alex Neil hailed the maturity of Sol Sidibe after handing the 16-year-old his first senior start in their EFL Cup win over West Brom.

The youngster only signed his first professional contract on 23 July.

He is the son of Mamady Sidibe, who scored 26 goals in 186 games for the Potters from 2005 to 2013.

"I thought his performance justified why he's been with the first team all pre-season and why I played him in the game," Neil told BBC Radio Stoke.

"I had no concerns over him. He's a terrific talent but he's also really mature, for being so young.

"He did exactly as I expected him to do - he did wonderfully well and he's played in a Stoke team that won the game, and played the majority of the match.

"I think when you're 16 years old, most players of that age could only dream of doing something like that."

Neil made six changes to the team which started Saturday's 4-1 win over Rotherham and summer signing Andre Vidigal made it three goals in two games with what proved to be the winner against Albion.

"A lot of credit needs to go the players because we had a front line that had never played together. We played a 16-year-old in the middle of the park, who was magnificent, and brought Luke McNally on for his debut as well," said Neil.

"Last season was a long season for us but now we're showing the signs that we can be a good side. There's a bit of belief among the players and the supporters in the stadium. That can take you a long, long way.

"Tactically, they're very good, they understand what we're doing and how we're trying to play but technically, they're very good and when you get good technical players all I need to do is the point them in the right direction and their quality does the rest.

"That's what management should look like."

Neil was also impressed by the contribution of Brazilian striker Wesley, who they signed from Aston Villa last month.

"We needed Wesley, he's a different option because teams like West Brom came (here) last year and jumped all over us and we found it hard to get up the pitch," the Scot added.

"You're going to find it hard unless you've got a target at the top end and what you can see with Wesley. He's a big brute, but he's more than that - he's got good quality with his feet, he can roll people, he can run his flick-ons, he understands where people are in the game in terms of combinations.

"He tired from about 60 minutes, but he's probably never worked so hard in a game before. He did great."