José Mourinho has told Troy Parrott to stop thinking he is “too good” to play for Tottenham’s Under-23s. The manager said he experienced a similar problem with Scott McTominay at Manchester United before he had words with the midfielder and has urged Parrott to show the right attitude to establish himself at Spurs.

Mourinho has been under pressure from supporters to use Parrott, who is the only fit striker in his squad, albeit one who has just turned 18 and has played for a total of 72 minutes. The manager joked that some of the fans who clamour for Parrott have never seen him play and do not even know whether he has blond or dark hair.

Parrott will be on the bench for the FA Cup fifth‑round home tie against Norwich on Wednesday but the discussion around the Republic of Ireland forward concerned the need for him “to have his feet on the ground”.

Mourinho talked about McTominay, whom he brought through at United. He said the player struggled initially to behave properly when he had to return to the youth teams, having tasted life in the senior squad, and his career took off only when he was reminded of a few home truths.

Mourinho sees the parallels with Parrott, who has trained all season with the first team but has appeared in seven under-age matches, scoring 11 goals. He played the first 45 minutes of the under-23 win against Wolves on Monday, scoring once.

“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 said Érik Lamela, who has been undermined by fitness problems, had trained on consecutive days for the first time since he took over on 20 November. He will decide whether to use the winger as a starter or substitute against Norwich.

Tottenham confirm Wanyama’s departure

Tottenham have conformed they have reached an agreement with MLS side Montreal Impact for the transfer of Victor Wanyama. The Kenya international will join up with the Canadian side managed by former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.

A statement from Spurs said: “From the goal in our last game at White Hart Lane to THAT strike at Anfield, thank you for providing us with some incredible memories.”