“He is not ready.”
As if he had not fully made his point, Jose Mourinho repeated his stance on Troy Parrott. “He’s not ready.”
Here in Ireland, we are excited by Troy Parrott’s potential and would love to see him getting more game time with Tottenham. The 18-year-old has already proven his worth for Ireland U21s and has made his senior international debut.
He looks the part but we know he is far from the finished product yet. And still…
We look at how first Marcus Rashford and then Mason Greenwood has flourished at Manchester United after being given a chance early on. We watch as Gabriel Martinelli burst nets for Arsenal at the age of just 18.
Parrott was given a chance for Spurs during their pre-season and took it. He had to wait until a League Cup game against Colchester to make his senior debut but it looked as though he would be advanced when Jose Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino. He made a couple of substitute appearances and then, when Harry Kane was injured, it looked as though he would get a regular run.
Instead, he has been like a lesser spotted bird. His sub appearance against Wolves – all three minutes of it – was his first senior outing in three months. Following the game, Mourinho told reporters:
“He is a good kid we want to help, not only on the pitch but off it. He is a kid who’s going to have a real opportunity but when we decide it is right.”
If we think our green-tinted glasses are firmly on, it is worth taking the opinion of former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright on-board. Speaking on Match Of The Day 2, on Sunday, Wright called on Tottenham to place their faith in the young forward.
“I was a little bit confused,” he began. “They need a striker.
“I’d say put Parrott on [earlier]. I don’t know what three minutes is going to do for him. If he’s on the bench then give him 20 minutes, let’s see what he’s about. Let’s see if he can link the play, hold it, so Spurs can play in a different type of way.
“He only got three minutes, I was gutted for him.”
Does Troy Parrott deserve more minutes for Spurs?#MOTD2 pic.twitter.com/OELV7vO4it
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) March 1, 2020
Mourinho is not yet convinced that Parrott is ready for a regular run of senior team games but the established players are not exactly covering themselves in glory right now.
