Bayern Munich and Tottenham’s treatment of their teenage strikers has been totally different.
There has been plenty of talk about teenage Tottenham striker Troy Parrott of late, but Jose Mourinho has been incredibly reluctant to use him despite his frontman shortage.
It is interesting to compare Mourinho’s approach to that of Bayern Munich boss Hansi Flick’s treatment of his teenage striking prodigy Joshua Zirkzee, who scored in the 6-0 away win over Hoffenheim this weekend.
Flick brought Zirkzee in for the injured Robert Lewandowski on Saturday and as per GGFN, said: “Joshua’s trained well and he’s showed in training that he’s got good quality and is a good finisher. He can hold the ball up well and has the physicality to do so, which is important when things are tight up top. So that was our thinking.”
Meanwhile, Mourinho said of Parrott: “He’s not ready. He’s a good kid we want to help, not only on the pitch but off it. He’s going to have real opportunity but when we decide it’s right.”
Bayern absolutely ripped Chelsea apart last week and are in an intense battle for the Bundesliga title and yet their manager threw in the teenage Zirkzee, gave him a confidence boost and was rewarded with a goal.
Meanwhile, Mourinho searches for solutions with more experienced players but the fact remains they’re not strikers and they don’t have that same selfishness or eye for goal.
Careers like Marcus Rashford’s have been launched out of an injury crisis, but even if that’s beyond Parrott right now, having a proper striker on the pitch would give Tottenham a new dimension.
It would lift the crowd and Bayern, with much more on the line and a higher standard of squad depth than Spurs, showed this weekend the rewards of faith in youth.
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