Timothy Fosu-Mensah's development at Manchester United is on a similar path to that of Bastian Schweinsteiger, according to manager Louis van Gaal.
Fosu-Mensah, 18, has impressed in a number of roles when called into action by Van Gaal this season and the Dutch manager has said the talented youngster's position going forward may be determined by a number of factors.
He compared the positional evolution to that of a young Schweinsteiger, who moved from the right wing at Bayern Munich to more of a central role when Van Gaal was manager there.
Speaking at his news conference on Thursday, Van Gaal said: "It is dependable on vacancies in your squad.
"You have seen that players in my squad are playing in different positions than what they are used to in their former careers. It is also a little bit of luck.
"You can ask Bastian Schweinsteiger who, at Bayern Munich, played on the right side, the right wing. I made him a centre-midfielder because I looked at his profile and I thought that he can better play in the middle and he enjoys it more than on the right side.
"I have changed a lot of positions of players."
Van Gaal added that when a player, like Fosu-Mensah, has quality then it makes sense to give him an opportunity to prove his worth in other positions for the team.
The Dutch coach said: "When there is a vacancy and you think a young player has the quality to play there, you give him the chance. If he takes the chance then that makes him already mentally a good player.
"You cannot say that a player is [just] a full-back. You can see qualities and you make a profile of positions and then you look at the qualities of a player and see if he can fit that.
"Can he do that, can he perform that? Maybe he shall perform it and then he sticks to that position and then he is the best of all."