Troy Parrott has taken Ireland by storm and now wants to do the same in Europe. The centre-forward born in Dublin in 2002 has made a superb start to the season: three goals in two matches for the national team, one in the 3-0 win over Israel and two in the draw in Austria. The first of those came after a brilliant run featuring a couple of dribbles and a nutmeg on a defender, and it quickly went viral because of the quality of the skill. That followed his two goals in a Betis shirt, with the first securing victory against Real Madrid at the Benito Villamarin and the second wrapping up the win in Lille in the Champions League. The 24-year-old came through at Tottenham and is a technical, dynamic striker with an eye for goal. He has also come close to Serie A several times, with AC Milan and Juventus tracking him over several transfer windows.
GettyFrom England to the Netherlands
He burst onto the scene at AZ Alkmaar, a club always ready to cash in by selling their best players, such as Tijani Reijnders, who ended up at AC Milan in the summer of 2023. After 51 goals in 97 appearances across two Eredivisie seasons, he moved last 20 August from the Netherlands to Spain. That switch from England to the Dutch league proved decisive for his career: Parrott had struggled in the Championship after coming through Tottenham's youth ranks and reaching the first team, both in the shirt of Milwall and in those of Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston North End. A move to Rotterdam followed, then an excellent season with Excelsior, where he scored 10 goals in 25 matches. He also kept scoring freely for Ireland, both at Under-21 level and for the senior national team.
Prophet in his homeland
He made his first-team debut for Tottenham in 2019 against Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus in the International Champions Cup, then in December Mourinho, who had replaced Pochettino in the Spurs dugout, handed him his Premier League debut at 17 years, 10 months and 3 days in the 5-0 home win over Burnley. He became a hero in his homeland between 13 and 16 November last year in 2025 when, with a brace against Portugal and a hat-trick against Hungary in Budapest, he fired his national team to a miraculous qualification for the 2026 World Cup play-offs.
Paid only 20 million
Betis did well to seize the chance to sign such a prolific striker for just €20 million: AC Milan, who right now do not have a genuine deputy for Ramos because Camarda is playing very little, and Juventus, who had to bring in Woltemade on a dry loan at the last minute, both needed an extra striker for three competitions. So why did neither of them move for Parrott?
Milan and Juve did not bet on him
From a financial point of view, the decision to focus on Ramos and Kolo Muani left no room for that kind of outlay, or the two clubs simply did not fully trust the player's profile and goalscoring ability. AC Milan, in particular, had been burned by the performances of another Eredivisie striker, Bebote Gimenez, who has completely failed in Milan to reproduce what he did in the Netherlands. Juventus then reached the end of August without the chance to complete a permanent signing. A shame, especially for AC Milan, who had tracked this striker repeatedly and are now watching him prove he can establish himself among Europe's top players.
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