Rob Green has appealed for Ross Barkley to be allowed to develop in his own time at Everton and spared the hype that can damage young English talent.

The Queens Park Rangers and former England goalkeeper witnessed Barkley’s talent at first hand on Monday when the midfielder opened the scoring in Everton’s 3-1 win with an emphatic finish. It was Barkley’s first goal since May and arrived in a much-improved performance from the 21-year-old, who missed the first 10 games of the season through injury and had struggled on his return.

Despite a well-earned place in England’s World Cup squad in the summer, Barkley’s recent form has shown he is a work in progress after a career disrupted by serious injury. England’s manager Roy Hodgson has compared his talent to that of Paul Gascoigne while Barkley’s manager at club level, Roberto Martínez, once claimed the midfielder could be England’s answer to Michael Ballack. Green fears such hype can be counter-productive.

The QPR keeper said: “He’s obviously got great ability. The problem is that when you get a young English talent coming through, because they are so few and far between now, everybody starts to get carried away. There is so much hype built up around them before they are matured and progress into the player that they can be. It is the worst thing that can happen – that everybody thinks that he can be the answer. All of a sudden, and you can see it happen from generation to generation, is that they get cut down.

“You expect too much of them. There is enough pressure playing in the Premier League as it is. I’m sure at Everton they want to nurture him because they know they have a great talent. What we don’t want is to leave him exposed to the elements, as it were. You want to try to keep him under wraps a bit. You look at what Sir Alex Ferguson did with Ryan Giggs. He worked very hard to protect him. He protected him and protected him. And then all of a sudden he is a super-special talent; unfortunately not English.

“I don’t know Ross Barkley personally but sometimes people just need protecting. I would just say that it’s better to do that than expose him to the kind of hype that can hurt young talent.”

Steven Naismith, scorer of Everton’s third in Monday’s win over Harry Redknapp’s side, believes Barkley’s grounded nature bodes well for his future career but insists consistency can remain elusive until a player reaches his mid-20s.

The Scotland international said: “It’s always going to be difficult for him. He is a terrific talent but he’s got a lot to learn and after the World Cup there was a lot of expectation. Getting an injury early doors wasn’t great for him but his attitude is spot-on for any manager. He will work as hard as he can, he will do extra training and that’s all you can ask.

“I think in the coming years, if we are patient with him, he will be a terrific player for Everton and England. Young players are going to be hot and cold for many years. It’s not until they hit their mid-20s they will be very consistent. Ross has suffered from a bit of that. He’s got all the talent in the world but he’s got a lot to learn and you just have to give him time to learn.

“He will make mistakes and he will maybe come on in games and be effective or he will come on and lose the ball. He needs to learn the times when he does go forward and do his bit and the times to keep it simple. That will come with experience.”