6 hours ago
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BVB and Betis interested
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While there were a number of issues that led to Tottenham Hotspur almost getting relegated from the Premier League this season, one of the main ones was a lack of goals. Brazilian striker Richarlison was the only player in the club’s entire squad to reach double figures for league goals, while second place went to defensive midfielder João Palhinha on just four. Spurs desperately lacked cutting edge in the final third and, in many ways, were lacking the kind of skill and talent that they shipped off to the Netherlands back in 2024 for just €4 million in return.
Indeed, few would have expected former academy prospect Troy Parrott to be touted as a potential solution to Tottenham’s problems in attack, but a quick glance at his form in the Eredivisie for AZ Alkmaar this season may surprise even his most ardent detractors. The 24-year-old Irish striker bagged no less than 31 goals and 12 assists in just 48 games across all games for AZ and is now being linked with moves to Real Betis, Borussia Dortmund and perhaps even a return to English football. And in many ways, the Dublin-born star has become the centre forward Tottenham desperately need next season.
"He has been outstanding ever since he moved to AZ and ever since he has played in the Netherlands,” said Kevin Lux, Transfermarkt content manager in the Netherlands. “He has scored regularly. He performed well for his team. For AZ in the league and also in European matches. So yeah, he's been outstanding for them for the past two seasons." Since making the move to the Netherlands, first for Excelsior on loan and then on a permanent move to AZ in 2024, Parrott has gained €21m in market value. Not only does that now make the Irish striker the club’s most valuable player and the fourth most valuable player in the Dutch top-flight, but it also means only five players have gained more market value in the league than Parrott since the summer of 2023.
So what’s behind Parrott going from strength to strength in Alkmaar? "Well, I think it suits him,” said Lux. “But also, the Eredivisie is an ideal league for strikers to score goals. We've seen it in the past with Graziano Pellè, with all of these players that had a hard time scoring elsewhere. Then they move to the Netherlands, and they started scoring goals, and then they could make a very, very nice transfer to a big league. I don't know about his history very much, if Parrott scored a lot of goals in his past before he moved to the Netherlands, but it wasn't a wrong choice for him to come here to make a name as a goal scorer in European football."
However, while Parrott seems to be enjoying himself in the Netherlands, his days at AZ may be numbered. Reports in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have linked the striker with moves to Sunderland, Fulham, Wolfsburg, Betis and Dortmund since the start of 2026, and there’s a good chance that the Eredivisie side will sell the striker for the right price. “I think they are trying to sell him,” noted Lux. “If they don't have to, they won't, but they have a young talent, Mexx Meerdink, right behind him in the pecking order. So if Parrott leaves, they have a very good option to replace him already within the team. That makes the incentive a little bit better to sell him this season, and they will get a lot of money for him. So I think there's a very good chance that he's leaving."
As such, there’s a good chance that Parrott will only depart AZ this summer but do so with a record transfer fee. The Dutch side will be looking for a fee that surpasses their current record sale - Tijjani Reijnders’s €24.8m move to AC Milan in 2023 - which could see the young striker become the most expensive Irish player of all time, should he surpass the €26.9m Brentford paid for Nathan Collins in 2023. It remains to be seen where Parrott goes next, but few could deny that he’s made plenty of right moves since he swapped Tottenham’s youth teams for first team football in the Netherlands.
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