Troy Parrott gets back at Jose Mourinho as Tottenham quotes emerge

Troy Parrott announced himself to La Liga by downing Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid with his first goal for Real Betis on Friday.

The 24-year-old's late goal saw the home side win 1-0, after he turned in the rebound from Thibaut Courtois' save.

The Ireland international was handed his Tottenham debut under Mourinho in 2019, but would ultimately make just four senior appearances.

Parrott joined AZ Alkmaar in 2024 and was heavily linked with a return to England this summer, but ultimately joined Real Betis in a move worth around £17million.

The striker scored 31 goals and provided 10 assists across all competitions last season, and is expected to thrive in La Liga.

He could not have hoped for a better start, either, with his former manager found on the wrong end of his big introduction.

Jose Mourinho's Troy Parrott comments revisited

In the months before Mourinho's appointment at Tottenham, a 17-year-old Parrott was making waves at the youth level.

The striker had scored an astonishing 14 goals in just nine games for the Under-18s, and began the following season in fine form too.

With pressure increasing on Mourinho to hand him his Premier League debut, he did so, bringing him off the bench against Burnley.

The manager's extra touch, giving Parrott the match ball after the game, promised a great relationship between the pair.

But eventually, the teenager was sent back to feature for the U23s, appearing briefly in both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The next season would see him loaned to Millwall and Ipswich Town.

Speaking in March 2020, Mourinho said: "I was so happy with the way he performed and I’m not speaking about his goal. I told him before the game: ‘Every time you play with the kids of your age, you have to show your colleagues why you are the privileged one.’

"Because it was something he was not doing. Every time he was playing with the kids, he was playing with the mentality of, ‘I shouldn’t be here’ or, ‘I am too good to be here.’

"I had exactly the same words with Scott McTominay. He was not loved in his age group because he was not there with the right frame of mind. The moment we started changing that lots of things started changing for him.

"Troy cannot go there [the under‑age teams] with discontent, contempt. It is a process. So everything goes very, very well. But this is a world where lots of people don’t even know if Troy has long hair or short hair, or is blond or is dark.

"They don’t even know that and they speak about Troy, Troy, Troy. There was a guy behind me on the bench the other day: ‘Play Troy, play Troy.’ I don’t think he knows Troy.”

Mourinho's comments were harsh and although there may have some truth to them, Parrott would get the last laugh on Friday, handing the 63-year-old his first loss since his return to Real Madrid.

Premier League clubs have missed out on Parrott

Considering some of the fees paid in the Premier League this summer, it seems extraordinary that Parrott has been allowed to join Real Betis for just £17m.

Nottingham Forest, for example, have spent almost triple the fee for a striker, in Liam Delap, who scored just three goals last season.

The only English side who appeared genuinely interested in signing Parrott this summer were West Ham, but a move to the Championship did not appeal.

Should the striker build on Friday's big moment, Premier League sides will be forced to watch and rue their error.