AZ Alkmaar's Parrott has 'no regrets' about Spurs stint

AZ Alkmaar forward Troy Parrott says he has no regrets about his time with former club Tottenham as he prepares to face them in the Europa League last 16.

The 23-year-old had his pick of the top clubs as a 15-year-old with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all interested.

He decided his future was with Spurs, but it didn't work out for the Republic of Ireland international and he made just four senior appearances before being sent out on loan spells in the second and third tiers of English football.

In 2023, he sought a new challenge in the Dutch first division.

"For me it just didn't happen [with Spurs]. I'm OK with that," Parrott said.

"I look back with a smile. It's a place where I grew up. I moved away from home quite young, so when I went there I was in a phase of going from a kid to a teenager and then past that.

"It helped me become the person and player I am now, so I can only look back on that with good memories."

Parrott is now flourishing in the Dutch top-flight after Tottenham sold him to AZ Alkmaar in July 2024 for £6.7m following a season-long loan at Excelsior, who were relegated from the Eredivisie last season despite Parrott scoring 17 goals in 32 appearances.

This season he has featured in all 38 of AZ Alkmaar's matches in all competitions, starting 34 and coming on as a substitute in four with a tally of 17 goals.

"I'm here, I'm really enjoying myself here, I love life over here. Now I'm just focusing on where I am right now and trying to progress and keep getting better here," he said.

Parrott has already been reunited with his former club once this season, with the two meeting in the Europa League group phase in October where Spurs won 1-0.

"I feel we're in a better position now than we were when we played the first time," Parrott said.

The striker struggled for opportunities during his stint at Spurs and many fans called on then-manager Jose Mourinho to hand him more minutes.

But the minutes did not come and in 2020 he moved to Millwall on loan before heading out to Ipswich, MK Dons, Preston and eventually Excelsior.

He has previously discussed his struggles with living up to "the hype" that followed him in his early career and said the media attention "used to get to me a bit".

Parrott is now thriving in the Netherlands and his goal scoring record speaks for itself.

"I want to score in every game and tomorrow is just another game to try to do that. It would be nice for me, it'd be nice for the team also, so let's see," he said.

Parrott has scored more goals than any Spurs player this season in all competitions but still sits some way off former Tottenham striker Harry Kane, who has a remarkable 31 goals in 34 games for Bayern Munich in 2024-25.

He has been fit for every one of AZ Alkmaar's matches this season and revealed the use of a cryotherapy chamber has enabled him to stay fresh and free from injury.

"Yeah I try to do the best I can in the short space we have to recover," Parrott said.

"It's [cryo] something I have picked up and it benefits me in trying to recover as well as I can in the couple of days we have to do so.

"I can't tell if I am fully recovered or not but I feel like for me personally it helps. It's really cold, -120C, so I go in there for three minutes and for me I feel like it helps."

A turbulent season for Spurs with injuries to key players means they have been unable to rely on just one player to score the goals.

Their top goalscorer this campaign is Brennan Johnson with 14, while Dominic Solanke has 11 and Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min each have 10 across all competitions.

Tottenham qualified automatically for the last-16 while AZ Alkmaar beat Galatasaray to progress from the play-offs and book their place.