A kneejerk reaction would be everyone saying that Deulofeu is "back" and is going to be a star based on this performance.
Being cautious and tempering these expectations is not a kneejerk reaction.
Yep.
Also, there were lots of players during history who were somehow "too good" for youth levels, but NEVER managed to do anything significantly on senior levels.
For example, Saviola, a few lines about him:
"Nicknamed El Conejo (The Rabbit), Buenos Aires-born Saviola made his debut for Club Atlético River Plate at the age of 16, and went on to be a prolific goalscorer for the club.
He helped River to the 1999 Apertura and 2000 Clausura championships, and earned the 1999 South American Footballer of the Year award. Still only 18, he gained a reputation as a phenomenal prospect, and was even regarded as a potential heir to Diego Maradona, in particular after he broke Maradona's 1978 record by becoming the youngest player to win El Goleador (the Golden Boot Award).
Saviola starred in the 2001 edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, held in Argentina. He was top scorer and was voted player of the tournament, as the national team won the competition; with 11 goals in seven games, he became the record goal-scorer in the tournament's history."
Here are the goals from that tournament, where Argentina won the gold, and Saviola scored 11 goals in 7 matches.
He was 19 and a half years old during that tournament where he was the best young player in the world:
(Now, just imagine that we today have a young player who is the best in the world and who had just won the gold medal and scored 11 goals in 7 matches on U21 World cup. The forum would melt down from a hype, isn't it?)
Also, I will always remember a story from 10-ish years ago when Liverpool bought French players Le Tallec and Sinama Pongolle who were the best players at Fifa U16 and U17 tournaments in 2001:
"Born in Hennebont, Le Tallec was signed from Le Havre AC by Liverpool in 2001, along with his cousin Florent Sinama Pongolle, by manager Gérard Houllier. This was after impressive performances for the French national youth team in the UEFA European Under-16 Championship and the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the player being awarded the 'Silver Ball' as the second best player (behind his cousin) in the latter tournament as the national team emerged champions; both players remained a further two years at Le Havre, loaned by the Reds."
None of them turned into even a semidecent player. Even though they were THE BEST young players in the world in that moment.
So, these guys were all the best young players in the world in their time, and they didn't make it in a senior football.
And that is not a mental issue, like: they were rude, arrogant or something.
They just peaked early, but never improved after the age 18 or 20, and that's it.
Some guys improve further and further during their careers.
And for some guys is: what you see at the age of 18, this is what you will get till the end of his career.
Some players are always somehow "too good" for youth levels and they look like beasts against young opponents and against young defenders.
But they never during their career "manage" to make another step and improve their game to be good enough for a senior level.
Again, in numbers it would be something like:
-- quality of youth football is around 50%
-- and quality of senior football is around 100%
-- then, some players like Saviola are already at 80-90% already at the age of 18-19
-- and they are trashing the young defenders in that age
-- BUT, their game never improves too much after that, and they are stuck at 90%, and they are never good enough for a senior level where you need 100% of quality
-- of course, some other young players are at the 50-60% when they are young, but somehow they improve to 100% later and they were nothing special in youth ranks, but they turn into a good senior players
-- but also, there are some players like Messi, who are already at 90% as youth players, but later they turn into a 150% player, and they are trashing both youth and senior opponents for years
So, yes, it is hard to predict what will happen with Deulofeu, but since he is already 21, we shouldn't be too ecstatic about his plays against youth opponents anymore.
He will need to improve his game on a senior level and become a good senior level player.
Or he will always remain a guy who was too good against youth opponents, but a very average player against any senior opponents.
