Jose Mourinho has told Troy Parrott to keep a level head and to remind himself that he is not “too good” to play for Tottenham Hotspur’s Under-23 side, per a report by The Guardian.
The Republic of Ireland international is the only fit centre forward at Spurs, with some fans hoping he is given a chance to lead the line following the absences of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son.
However, Mourinho has not caved into those demands and has even mocked the Tottenham supporters at times as he joked many of them did not even know what he looked like.
“I was so happy with the way he performed and I’m not speaking about his goal,” the Spurs boss said after Parrott scored for the under 23 side against Wolves.
“I told him before the game: ‘Every time you play with the kids of your age, you have to show your colleagues why you are the privileged one.’ Because it was something he was not doing.
“Every time he was playing with the kids, he was playing with the mentality of, ‘I shouldn’t be here’ or, ‘I am too good to be here.’
“I had exactly the same words with Scott McTominay. He was not loved in his age group because he was not there with the right frame of mind.
“The moment we started changing that lots of things started changing for him.
“Troy cannot go there [the under‑age teams] with discontent, contempt. It is a process.”
Given Mourinho’s comments, it would seem that the 18-year-old needs to fix his attitude if he is to get his opportunity to add to the three senior appearances he has had for Spurs in his young career to date (per TransferMarkt).
Indeed, the absences to Kane and Son have arguably been devastating to Tottenham as they have struggled to pick up points and even score goals.
According to data collected by WhoScored, the pair have 20 Premier League goals between them, with an out-of-form Dele Alli third with seven and Lucas Moura on four.
Since Son has been out, Mourinho’s Tottenham side have managed to find the net just three times in as many games, whilst 17 have been scored in the 12 games Kane has missed (per WhoScored).
With both Alli and Moura appearing to struggle in front of goal, perhaps it is no wonder fans want to see Parrott start, but if the Spurs manager has his way, that might not be something that happens imminently.
