They’d seen the Irish teenager hold his own in pre-season against Manchester United and Juventus. They’d seen his outrageous highlights as he shot through the ranks at White Hart Lane. They’d even seen him grab an assist in his first start for his country at an age where most footballers are worrying about their first professional contract.
As wonderkids go, Troy Parrott seems too big to fail.
And yet fail he did - at the first attempt, albeit - aiming a tame spot-kick straight at Tim Krul as Tottenham crashed out of the fifth round of the FA Cup to Norwich on penalties.
There’ll be better days for Parrott, one of the youngest and rawest talents to appear for Spurs’ senior side in recent years, but it stood out as one in a series of worrying incidents that show Tottenham’s handling of youth has not been fit for purpose of late.
It’s not been easy for the kids at Spurs this year.
Just ask Japhet Tanganga, who was left on his backside by Raúl Jiménez for Wolves’ winner, having been left dangerously exposed in defence. Or Oliver Skipp, hooked at half-time against Burnley with José Mourinho growling ‘we didn’t have a midfield’. Parrott's had a tougher time than most, having to watch fellow starlets Mason Greenwood and Gabriel Martinelli run riot
Boiling point was reached when right back Kyle Walker-Peters, a not-so-young youngster who has been one to watch for a little too long, criticised Mourinho’s effect on his career trajectory, with reports suggesting that Mourinho is now looking for buyers for the defender.
The example of Walker-Peters is interesting because his case highlights both the short-term and long-term failures of youth development at Tottenham.
It’s true that the average fan doesn't spend hour after hour at Hotspur Way watching players train, but there is something decidedly calculated about the Special One’s policy on youth this season.
Tottenham is a club which has always been proud of its youth development record, while Mourinho was regularly criticised for his handling of top prospects Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial in his previous managerial role at Manchester United.
With that in mind you can’t help but detect a trace of grandstanding in the dubious offerings doled out by Mourinho to youngsters this year, epitomised by the five minutes he gave to Malachi Fagan-Walcott at the end of Spurs’ 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig.
In substance, however, it’s difficult to pinpoint any sustainable examples of youth promotion since Mourinho came in.
Skipp must be pretty rotten in training if he doesn't start ahead of loanee Gedson Fernandes, and while Mourinho hunted for a striker in January as if he was desperately searching for a mate’s cousin’s brother-in-law as a ringer for five-a-side, he overlooked Parrott. So much so that his crucial penalty miss against Norwich turned out to be his first meaningful action for the club.
Dutch Youth Team on Skipp:
— (@Bergwijnn) March 21, 2020
“That Skipp guy is an annoying guy”
“He is a good footballer”
“Yeah, really good footballer”
“Very good in controlling the play”
“He keeps turning like Frenkie (De Jong)”
“Very annoying, i gave him a little push in the game” pic.twitter.com/tcmyrrBdid
Mourinho has even been guilty of oversight with the players he has chosen to favour. Tanganga has been given way too much responsibility relative to his defensive acumen and was riding his luck until the disastrous Wolves game, a victim of Mourinho’s strange decision to loan out Walker-Peters.
However, laying all of the blame at Mourinho’s door, with the obvious constraints he has had to work under, would make one guilty of ignoring the far deeper malaise at the club when it comes to youth development.
While Walker-Peters argued to Southampton’s official website that Pochettino showed far more faith in him, the man was running out of time. That was clear for all who watched him struggle against Raheem Sterling in August in the 2-2 draw at Manchester City to see.
Indeed, his example enforces the fact that Pochettino’s record was not exactly squeaky clean when it came to youth.
Walker-Peters looked a breath of fresh air on debut at Newcastle, a compromise between Serge Aurier’s defensive negligence and Kieran Trippier’s lack of dynamism, but he made just 11 more league appearances across three seasons. This uncertainty saw him lack confidence when he did appear - see Ousmane Dembélé ripping him to shreds at Camp Nou as the finest example.
While Pochettino looked to be handling Parrott with relative care, he was notoriously not as sensitive with Marcus Edwards, who must be the only player compared to Lionel Messi by his manager who was subsequently unable to make the bench ahead of Georges-Kévin Nkoudou.
That Spurs’ youth problems go beyond who is in charge is exemplified by top talents Keanan Bennetts, Luis Binks and Nodi Madueke departing before they even had chances to be considered by management, with a common theme emerging.
Binks told MLSSoccer.com that starting for Montreal Impact as an 18-year-old is ‘better than playing Under-23 football in front of, I don’t know, 200 people’, while the prodigiously talented Madueke explained to StrayOffside that ‘development wise’, Spurs was a ‘top, top academy’, but he moved to PSV Eindhoven because as a young player, ‘coming on [for a] couple minutes in [the] Carabao [Cup]’ is ‘not really what I’m trying to do’.
It seems that an unwanted symptom of Spurs going from perennial occupiers of tenth place to Champions League finalists is that they have an abundance of talent but no clear pathway for it.
Arguing that it would harm Spurs to create this pathway must be disputed in Nkoudou beating Edwards to a substitute berth, Walker-Peters losing out to Trippier and Aurier, and Parrott being made the understudy to an out-of-position Moura.
Spurs need to learn from Chelsea’s model - which was admittedly brought about by necessity - and understand that a relaxed policy on youth allows mediocrity to fester.
It's not too late to save the likes of Parrott, but if the club wants the reset it desperately need, it’s time to give kids a chance.
Source : 90min