Troy Parrott is not ready to fill the goalscoring void at Tottenham Hotspur, says Jose Mourinho.
Parrott hasn't played since his Premier League debut against Burnley in December, and hasn't been present in a Spurs squad since the 1-1 FA Cup draw with Middlesbrough at the beginning of the month, where he was an unused substitute.
Mourinho has opted to not include the 17-year-old in his 18-man panels, despite the North London club lacking an established backup striker to Kane.
Lucas Moura, Heung-min Son, and Dele Alli have all deputised as line-leaders since Kane suffered a hamstring injury which should rule him out until April against Southampton on New Year's Day.
Mourinho has recently turned to 20-year-old defender Japhet Tanganga, handing him a Premier League debut against runaway leaders Liverpool, leading to some renewed hope that Parrott could once again find himself involved in first team affairs.
But the Portuguese boss believes that, while Parrott can have minutes here and there, the North Dublin native is nowhere near ready to fill Kane's boots and "needs to work a lot".
"I’m ready to answer you because I had a long conversation with him today, so I’m ready to share with you a little bit," Mourinho told Football.London.
"I think he has potential. I think he needs to work a lot.
"He has a process to go through, a process that probably Tanganga had. One thing is 17 and another thing is 20. We are speaking about three years of distance and three years.
"Okay, in Tanganga’s case it was three years without a Premier League match, but it was three years or working and playing, playing in his age groups, playing in England national team [youth games], which also gave him some experience.
"Then with me it was just the last part of his preparation before he had his first opportunity.
"I think Troy has to go through a process. Can he have minutes? Yes he can minutes.
"I’m not saying he’s not able to have minutes, but to put on his shoulders the responsibility of replacing somebody to be replaced, I don’t think he’s ready at all."
