ROBBIE KEANE HAS urged caution over putting pressure on the prodigious shoulders of Troy Parrott, as the giddy excitement over the Irish teenager’s goalscoring potential swells.
The 17-year-old, currently sidelined with a leg injury, enjoyed another excellent season for Tottenham Hotspur’s U23 side and is considered one of Ireland’s brightest young prospects, regularly touted as a natural long-term successor to Keane.
Ireland’s record goal-scorer, who today confirmed he is weighing up an offer to become Middlesbrough assistant manager, recently visited Tottenham’s training ground to meet Parrott, and came away impressed with the Dubliner’s personality and temperament.
But while Keane says Mauricio Pochettino ’loves’ Parrott, the Ireland assistant boss has warned against ‘pigeonholing’ the striker and stresses he must be allowed to develop on his own terms.
“We have to be careful with Troy Parrott,” Keane said on a visit to Crumlin Children’s Hospital this morning. “I think all of us here have to be careful that we’re not pigeonholing him into being the next me.
It’s him. He’s Troy Parrott. Let him develop as a young player. He’s got the ability, I speak to Pochettino all the time and he loves him. Jesus [Perez] the assistant manager loves him. He definitely has potential but he’s 17 and I know I got thrown in at 17 but he’s still young.
“He’s got a lot of potential. People at Tottenham love him. He’s a lovely lad but when he gets the opportunity to go to the U21s he certainly has a chance but it’s up to him. He’s got everything but it’s how do you get from there to there.”
Parrott missed Ireland’s U17 European Championship campaign last month, and has also been sidelined for the U21s’ ongoing Toulon tournament, but he has already showed his prolific goal-scoring ability for the Boys and Green and Spurs.
Acknowledging the fact U21 international Conor Masterson was one of three Irish underage players released by Liverpool last week, Keane knows for all Parrott’s promise, he has to keep working hard to ensure that potential doesn’t expire before he can fulfil it at senior level.
“He has the mentality,” the former striker continued. “I went over and met him at Tottenham and had lunch with him and I just wanted to have a chat to see where he was.
“He definitely has the right temperament to be a top player and the manager [Pochettino] thinks very highly of him but when the opportunity comes for him he has to take it.
“He needs to develop and continue to keep scoring goals. I know he got injured towards the end of the season but he needs to keep developing, keep watching, keep learning, keep listening.
“Speak to Harry Kane. Watch Harry Kane. Watch what he does. What his movement is like. As young kids, I used to do it myself, watch top players because you can learn a lot from that.”
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