Troy Parrott's Tottenham career was not much for someone with such a talent and promise.
Ninety-six minutes and no goals, starting with a defeat on penalties in a competitionup in Colchester, followed by six minutes from the bank in two Premier League matches.
It ended with cruel symmetry when Tim Krul saved his penalty in a FA Cup Shootout defeat of Norwich one night when Eric Dier waded the home crowd to confront fans of offensive spurs.
Covid stopped the country and Parrott never went to London again. Few noticed that AZ Alkmaar paid £ 7 million for him last summer. But he flourished in the Netherlands, first on loan at Excelsior last season and now in a young AZ -outfit that are sixth in the competition and in the Dutch Cup final. They lost 1-0 at Spurs in October, but have improved.
Parrott was identified by AZ after impressing Excelsior. They wanted him to replace Vangelis Pavlidis, a Greek that they signed of Willem II at the age of 22 and sold to Benfica for £ 18 million. Pavlidis was a joint top scorer in the Eredivisie last season with 29 goals. “It was not easy for Troy to follow that,” says Simon Zwartkruis of the Dutch magazine Voetbal International. 'The expectations were high, but you can compare their situations.
'Four years ago, Pavlidis was not that well known. He came to do well in a smaller club, such as Parrott. They were a similar age. Everyone wanted to see if he was good enough for AZ and it cost him a year or so to reach the required level. If you compare him in his first season, Pavlidis had 15 goals in early March and Parrott has 17. '
Parrott has been embraced by AZ supporters, who have a reputation for high standards. They expect to win playing attractive football and see players.
There are people at Spurs who always thought Parrott had something special. It was his instinct to complete that they first encouraged them to offer an escape to the North Inner City of Dublin, an area affected by social problems.
He played for Belvedere, a club that brought 16 internationals, but never anyone better than a young Parrott.
“Big, fast, strong, brave and always scoring goals,” said Vincent Butler, co-founder of the club.
“He chased everything, that was his trademark. There was not something like a lost business that Troy was worried. '
Spurs won a scramble to sign him, but did not succeed in making a player of the first team in him. Jose Mourinho, who gave Parrott his top flight debut on 17, less than a month after his first Republic of Ireland Cap, asked his attitude when he was asked to return to the Under 21s.
Lower loans in Ipswich and Millwall were followed by 10 goals at Milton Keynes Dons and a ineffective year at Preston before he started in the Netherlands. He scored 17 for Excelsior under boss Marinus Dijkhuizen, a former striker who focused on the positional consciousness of Parrott.
“He wanted to play too much football everywhere,” he said Mail Sport.
'His most important quality is calm for the goal, but he was often not in the war zone when crossing came in. That was the most important thing we changed. He became very important to us and cared for the team, even though he was on loan. His play fits the style of football in the Netherlands.
“I like him and he is still young and plays in a larger club in big matches, such as against Spurs.”
Tottenham hoped that he would reflect Harry Kane and returned from several loans to break into the first team, but Parrott wanted to end the instability.
“I don't regret it,” he said. “It didn't happen for me at Spurs and I'm good with that. It was the right moment for both of us to continue and when I look back, I think of the good times. I love life here and I concentrate on that; Keep improving.
'We are much better than when we played in London. I look forward to seeing what we can do and it will be fun to see some familiar faces. '
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