Yesterday, Matty wrote about Troy Parrott heading to the Netherlands for a medical ahead of a permanent move to Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar. Today, we can report that the deal is officially done, as per AZ’s social media.
The transfer fee between Tottenham and AZ is €8m (£6.7m), but Spurs will have a 20% future sell-on fee in Parrott’s contract, so if he is sold elsewhere for a larger fee Tottenham will get a small cut of that sale.
Parrott, a full Ireland international, was one of the most exciting Tottenham Hotspur youngster prospects in years when he was signed from Belvedere as a 15-year-old in 2017. In the succeeding years after signing a professional contract, he went out on a series of uneventful loans before finally seeming to find his place in the Netherlands. He had 10 league goals this past season while on loan at Excelsior before going HAM in the Eredivisie relegation playoffs, scoring seven goals including two hat tricks.
Some Spurs fans are going to be disappointed that Ange Postecoglou and company have decided to part ways with Troy instead of giving him a chance in preseason training, but I think this makes sense for Troy’s career. Tottenham already have three more young strikers in the pipeline in Dane Scarlett, Alejo Veliz, and Will Lankshear — something has to give. And regardless of what you think of Parrott’s potential going forward, getting €8m for an young striker should be considered a major success of Tottenham’s academy. Besides, the Eredivisie is weird — I can certainly see a scenario where Troy turns into a prolific scorer in the Netherlands and parlays that into a move back to the UK or a larger league in Europe down the road.
For the last time — good luck, Party Parrott!