Mauricio Pochettino is treating Troy Parrott with extreme caution, but if he keeps him on the fringes of his Tottenham squad he could leave the club.
Inserting a 17-year-old into an intense Premier League encounter is absolutely a risky proposition. Then again, leaving an uber-talented player on the bench too long is also a significant risk for a club. That’s precisely the battle Tottenham face with Troy Parrott at the moment.
To date, Mauricio Pochettino has been very patient with the young Irish striker. Many managers would have thrown such a hot prospect into the fire to see if he could handle the rigors of Premier League football. Harry Kane’s presence at Spurs gives them the option to bring along young strikers slowly. There’s absolutely merit in that philosophy.
However, the report from Calcio Mercato claiming that Juventus, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are already eyeing the youngster may force Tottenham to alter their plans. Spurs cannot afford to lose Parrott over the issue of playing time. It’s now up to Pochettino to find a way to slowly integrate him into the first team this season.
The obvious answer for the Argentine manager is to give Parrott the start in every Cup fixture possible. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be in the starting XI against Colchester in the club’s upcoming Carabao Cup match. Parrott may lack experience, but he’s got enough talent to perform well in that sort of fixture.
The trouble for Tottenham is that they will soon run out of those sorts of fixture. Some good luck in Cup draws might give them one or more soft opponents to play, but things will toughen up for Tottenham very quickly. That doesn’t mean Parrott can be sent back to the U23 squad for the rest of the season. Doing that to him might cause him to become disillusioned and look for a move to a European power more willing to pay him like a star immediately.
Instead, Spurs need to start finding minutes for their young Irishman whenever and wherever possible. It’s imperative that he start making the bench for Premier League matches against opponents in the bottom half. There’s a solid argument to be made that he should be named as a substitute against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
No matter what, Tottenham need to make sure Parrott’s involvement with the first team begins to rise quickly. Failure to do so could result in a devastating departure next summer.