Troy Parrott

To reiterate, becoming a good Championship player is not a failure. He is showing signs that he will be a very useful Championship player. He is showing no signs of becoming a superstar yet though. My own belief is that his lack of pace will prevent from breaking that glass ceiling. But to put everyone's sensitivities to rest, being a very good Championship player would be a really good result for him and us. Be realistic. 

Was his opinion wrong?? He didn’t play them but at the time didn’t Chelsea not have better options certainly than Salah? Salah was signed from Basel essentially a cheap punt by Chelsea he then spent 3 seasons with Fiorentina on loan from Chelsea and essentially 2 years with Roma where he was playing regularly at a decent level. Those 3 years he improved further and honed his talent. 

Like wise De Bruyne was signed as an unknown young player from Genk by Chelsea he didn’t get gametime as they had arguably better options.

He was sold to Wolfsburg where he played for 3 years regularly developed further before getting his big money move as more the finished article. Mourinho has said many times he always felt Salah was talented enough it’s just he wasn’t ready at that time and I do believe him. 

I’m trying to make a point to apply this to Parrott above it doesn’t mean he’s not good or talented enough it’s just he’s not ready now and needs to go to a lower level to play matches and improve a while. I’d certainly want Parrott out on loan for 3/4 years playing regularly before I’d even big to judge where he might end up and I think he could go to a very high level he’s a real prospect.

Tbf in one sense avfc isn’t wrong in what he says as of now he’s essentially as an 18yo a Championship player and I’m someone that rates him and think he’s a high ceiling. No point in putting pressure on him it’s no insult to him bar Greenwood name me an 18yo attacker in the PL (Greenwood’s 19 and an exception). 

On the other hand your right and the fact that people are offended by Mourinho saying he’s not ready is almost funny. I’d prefer Mourinho being honest and telling the club or him let him off on loan for 3/4 years first to develop properly and improve. I alwyas got the impression Mourinho actually rates him and thinks he’s a talent and Parrott was a victim of Mourinho trying to make a point To his board by not playing him the odd time last year without Kane. He needs to do that and play regularly before we even began to start judging god he he could be top class. 

Agreed. He is where he is. He has huge potential and should be a major player for us. But he needs to become a good solid Championship player first. He is on the right track and it's great to see him getting game time. He needs to put a run of 90 minutes together and take it from there. The hype around has been mad though and highlights the dearth of talent hitherto. Hopefully that will soon change. The kid has talent and ability. 

This is certainly part of the issue. I tend to agree with you overall. I hope he is concentrating on the here and now and focusing on establishing himself at Millwall. He has done nothing in senior football but undoubtedly has lots of potential. We all hope he fulfills that but we don't know what success might look like for him. 

The remarkable thing is that if you look through a list of our top 20 goalscorer, you'll see that Robbie Keane was a once in a generation player, and after that, we have a group of goalscorer who scored well, reasonably well, and unremarkably. He was the outlier, and the difficulty is that after Doyle, Long and Walters, we had Murphy and McGoldrick, who could score at international level, but maybe not prolifically. Now, with all, bar Long (who hasn't scored for us in over four years) gone, we need to look to something else. So, you either look to ready made players like James Collins and Ronan Curtis, or you hold out hope for Idah, Connolly, and Parrott, and Parrott is the one with an association at the highest level, and has been in the plans and thoughts of managers like Poch and Jose (even if a little more limited with the latter).

He has played very little top level football, but is viewed by reputable clubs and managers as having potential, and Millwall see it as sufficient to have him starting games, which has been made possible by returning from injury. Now, we can actually make some form of assessment. But only from now.

I do kind of agree about De Bruyne to an extent but even De Bruyne who would he have played ahead of? One thing I would say in De Bruynes defence I always got the impression off Mourinho he maybe didn’t actually rate him that highly even after the fact.

Salah I do think he rated he’s said as much and I believe him but who would Salah have played ahead of at that time? That first year away fro Chelsea he played for Fiorentina he played 26 times so he wasn’t a regular regular for them that year either. 

I don’t think Mourinho is ever the guy that will develop youth en masse and it’s his weak point as a manager. Problem is what PL manager is developing “youth” as such or has multiple “young academy players” in their squad as in their first 18? 

Chelsea have a few academy lads in their academy but all of them were sent out on loan for a few years for going time to develop like I’m advocating for Parrott. Utd have a few tbf to them they always do. 

I still do actually respect him even for the fact with Troy Parrott he was essentially honest with him if not a bit ott with not playing him in Jan to make a point to his board he needed an experienced back up. If I was Parrott or someone close to him I’d tell him as such. Better then Solskjaer lying in press conferences about young players being ready and he not playing them or other managers doing likewise.

From the little I’ve seen of him he looks to have an extra half second when on the ball. That coupled with talent he has he’ll have a very good career if he’s willing to learn and if luck with managers / injuries go his way.

Football is full of wonder kids who disappear early twenties and plenty of top class players who were unknown until in their 20s. Troy has lots of time.