Plenty of Irish fans were keeping a keen eye on the January transfer window to see if some of our young guns could secure loan deals that would provide them with the first team football that could hugely aid their development over the coming months.
Any rumours of an Adam Idah loan deal were quickly dimissed by his Norwich City manager, Daniel Farke, but in the case of Troy Parrott it seemed a loan move was not beyond the realms of possibility. Alas, nothing transpired but according to the Daily Mail, that may be because of a strange reason.
They report that it was actually UEFA's homegrown rule that caused Tottenham Hotspur to turn away any approaches for the young Irish striker. Parrott had been linked with a number of clubs in the Championship, not to mention Burnley, but he may have missed out on a move due to his date of birth.
The issue is causing by the fact that Spurs have to submit a an A and B List of "homegrown" players in their squads for the Champions League. As explained on UEFA's website, in order to qualify to be a List B player they must have been "eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday." Given that Parrott signed for Spurs on his 16th birthday, he will not have completed his two years at the club until 4 February.
Therefore, despite falling just a few days short, if Parrott left Spurs for a loan deal he would then have to complete another consecutive two years at Spurs to qualify as a B List homegrown player.
Whether this was the definitive reason for Spurs deciding to not let Parrott leave is another matter but it's definitely an interesting factor that would not have crossed many people's minds.
