This is only the beginning.
For Troy Parrott, the milestones keep coming. Senior debuts for Tottenham and Ireland have come in the last two months with Parrott now making his Premier League bow.
The 17-year-old came on in the 85th minute in Spurs’ 5-0 victory over Burnley, at White Hart Lane, this afternoon. He replaced Delle Ali in the final stages and got a couple of touches and a nice gift from boss José Mourinho after the final whistle.
Mourinho approached Son Heung-Min, who was holding onto the match ball after he had scored a world-class goal in the first half. Son was probably looking for a memento but Mourinho had other ideas and asked for the ball before finding Parrott and presenting it to him.
https://twitter.com/sharoconnor/status/1203360630721466368
Mourinho explained the gesture, thus:
“It was his debut and I think it had a much bigger meaning to a kid who last week was playing against others his age in the UEFA Youth League.
“Today he’s playing in the Premier League at 17. Will he play against Bayern Munich? I don’t know. All I can say is Harry Kane won’t. Who plays, we’ll see.”
Parrott will definitely travel to Munich with the senior squad, next week, and will be itching for more game-time. If he does, he will have faced Colchester, Burnley and Bayern Munich… there are levels and there are LEVELS.
Mourinho was delighted with his side’s win after their midweek loss to Manchester United. Following the game, the Portuguese told the BBC:
“A perfect day. No injuries, a clean sheet, goals, perfect football, kids coming on for first Premier League football. Sean Dyche is always honest band told me after the game we were too good for them. I thank him for that. They are difficult to play against but we were too good. It wasn’t them that were bad.
“Finally the boys get a day off tomorrow that I’be not been able to give them yet.
“Son’s is a tremendous goal. Harry’s two outside the box and the pass for the Moussa goal. A couple of better passes or choices we could have had more.
“I remember when I was at Barcelona with Mr Robson and Ronaldo Nazario scored a goal that is similar to Son’s. And this was an amazing goal. I know that he is going to reach the face of the keeper and the control he is unstoppable. The keeper is good, though, but he managed to put it in.”
A comparison to the Brazilian Ronaldo is just about as high as praise gets.
