Soccer

Troy Parrott credits Tottenham with helping him ‘become the person and player I am now’

AZ Alkmaar striker could face his former club in first leg of Europa League last 16 tie

Troy Parrott has scored 17 goals in all competitions for AZ Alkmaar since joining last summer. Photograph: Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images
Troy Parrott has scored 17 goals in all competitions for AZ Alkmaar since joining last summer. Photograph: Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images
Wed Mar 05 2025 - 18:12
Europa League Last 16, first leg: AZ Alkmaar v Tottenham Hotspur, Thursday 5.45 – Premier Sports 2 & TNT Sports 3

AZ Alkmaar forward Troy Parrott has no regrets about his time at Tottenham, but the Ireland international would be more than happy to score against his former club on Thursday.

Spurs travel to the Netherlands to face AZ for a second time this season after the clubs met in the league phase of the Europa League in October.

Tottenham claimed a narrow 1-0 home win during a spell where AZ struggled for results, but Parrott insists they are full of belief, especially after knocking Galatasaray out in the last round.

Parrott, 23, only made four appearances across seven years at Spurs, yet has flourished in the Eredivisie with 17 goals in all competitions since joining AZ last summer.

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Asked if he regrets leaving Tottenham, Parrott said: “No, definitely not. For me it just didn’t happen. I’m okay with that.

“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.

“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.

“I think it was just the right time for both of us to move on. When I look back, I just think about the good times I had growing up there.

“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.”

After mixed loan spells at Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston, Parrott agreed a temporary switch to Excelsior from Tottenham in 2023.

While he was unable to stop Excelsior from being relegated from the Eredivisie, he struck 17 times and earned a permanent transfer to AZ.

Parrott has helped AZ compete on multiple fronts this term and revealed cryotherapy – in the shape of a cryo chamber – has enabled him to be fresh for a jam-packed football calendar.

“Yeah I try to do the best I can in the short space we have to recover,” Parrott explained ahead of his 39th appearance of the campaign.

“Cryo? It’s 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, minus 120 degrees, so I go in there for three minutes and for me I feel like it helps.

“Thursday’s going to be an interesting game. I feel we’re in a better position now than we were when we played the first time.”