Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy has delivered a very honest appraisal of the latest developments in Troy Parrott’s Tottenham career.
The talented young Spurs striker signed a bumper new three-year deal at the club this week having turned 18 this month.
football.london understands that the teenager was keen on a loan move in the January transfer window to get more senior minutes under his belt, having made his Premier League and Carabao Cup debut for Tottenham this season.
However, Spurs and Jose Mourinho were not keen on loaning the forward out for a couple of reasons, the Portuguese having previously admitted that at 17 then he was too young to go out and wanted him to develop with the club’s senior players.
There was also the problem faced by a UEFA rule that any young player must have been at the club for two years to be considered as locally trained and available for their European competition B list rather than taking up a foreign player spot on the main list.
Parrott could only officially sign for Spurs from Irish youth club Belvedere once he turned 16, on February 4, 2018. That meant Tottenham needed to keep him at the club past deadline day to ensure he qualified as having that two years of continuous service.
McCarthy handed Parrott his senior Ireland debut in the friendly against New Zealand in front of his hometown Dublin crowd, but admitted the teen is unlikely to be in the squad to face Slovakia in his country’s Euro 2020 play-off match next month.
When asked whether he was pleased that Parrott had signed his new deal at Spurs, McCarthy was less than enthusiastic.
“Not really,” the Ireland manager is quoted as saying by the Irish Times.
“I wish he’d gone to Charlton and played games on loan.
“It’s great for him financially, he’s got a new contract but I wish he was playing football somewhere.
“He couldn’t go out before because of his age and I understand that but if he’s not playing competitive football he has very little chance of being in the squad.”
(football.london)
