There are, you suspect, quite a few folk with links to the London postcode of N17 who would be thoroughly grateful if Troy Parrott could stop popping up to score winning goals for a bit. The Republic of Ireland striker has barely unpacked his bags at Real Betis, yet he’s already ruined the afternoon of his former manager at Tottenham, pouncing to sink José Mourinho’s Real Madrid. He made headlines again on his Bigger Cup debut at Lille.
Two games, two goals, two match-winners. Not entirely shabby for a lad who was once given the classic Mourinho treatment and declared “not ready”. Mourinho, as ever, remains a central character in this particular soap opera.
It was the Special One who handed a teenage Parrott his Premier League debut in December 2019, throwing him on during a 5-0 win over Burnley. It was also Mourinho who promptly decided the youngster needed a fair bit longer in the oven. When Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were both sidelined in March 2020, Tottenham fans dared to dream that Parrott might get a go.
Instead, Mourinho simply declared that the youngster was not prepared for the cut and thrust of regular top-flight football. A brief cameo against Norwich followed before the pandemic halted the season – and, for all intents and purposes, Parrott’s Spurs career. What followed was the classic, harrowing English loan circuit: Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston.
The Spurs academy hope was beginning to look less like the next Kane and more like another promising youngster destined to become a pub quiz answer. A formative spell at Excelsior steadying the ship was followed by a proper explosion at AZ, where he smashed in 51 goals across 97 games – giving Robin van Persie nightmares along the way. That – and a high-profile international hat-trick last year – was more than enough to persuade Betis to fork out £17m for him this summer.
His full debut was, it is fair to say, forgettable – a 5-2 hammering by Levante – that prompted Manuel Pellegrini to sigh forlornly about his new forward’s mistakes. But the beauty of Parrott these days is his refusal to sulk. Coming off the bench in the 68th minute against Madrid, he reacted quickest to a Thibaut Courtois parry, shoving the ball into the net from close range.
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