Notts' Abbott flattered by Grealish comparisons

George Abbott's only senior appearance for parent club Tottenham came in the Premier League in May 2023

Notts County midfielder George Abbott says being compared to high-profile loan players that have preceded him at the Magpies is helping fuel his career ambitions.

The 19-year-old has made 12 appearances for the high-flying League Two side since arriving on a season-long loan from Tottenham in the summer.

His influence on the Magpies, despite being one of the youngest players in the first team, has seen him quickly likened to Manchester City's England international Jack Grealish as well as Nottingham Forest captain Ryan Yates.

Grealish spent the 2013-14 season with Notts when they were a League One side, and Yates spent part of the 2017-18 campaign at Meadow Lane after they had dropped a division.

"It's always an amazing thing for the fans to sort of compare me to the brilliant players that have moved on from Notts County to where they are now," Abbott told BBC East Midlands Today.

"I hope I can carry on from where they left off, be my own player and get to the level they are now."

Grealish was an Aston Villa player when loaned to Notts, and six years after his spell at Meadow Lane he was sold for £100m to Manchester City - a club where he has won seven major honours, including the Champions League.

As for Yates, his time in League Two with Notts makes up part of a remarkable career that has seen him play in all of the top five leagues in England.

Abbott, who was already captaining Tottenham's Under-21 side when he moved to Notts, sees the loan move to the East Midlands as "the best way forward" for his young career.

At Notts, he is part of a side that sits third in the table and among the favourites to push for promotion.

"It's a building stone to where I want to get to," he said.

"Although you are going down the leagues, you are also getting used to men's football and the physicality of it."

Notts head coach Stuart Maynard says Abbott, whose previous experience in senior football comprised of a solitary first-team appearance for Spurs in the Premier League, has "the tools" needed to go on to establish a career in the top flight.

"George is so athletic, but he has football intelligence as well - he has a bit of everything," Maynard said.

"He has a very bright future ahead of him if he keeps going the same way he is performing now."