Troy Parrott has found his groove again in the Dutch league as he continues to bang in the goals for AZ Alkmaar.
The 22-year-old was once tipped to be Ireland’s next great striker, but unfortunately his career stalled after only making four appearances for Tottenham, and being sent on loan to Millwall, Ipswich Town, MK Dons, Preston and Dutch side Excelsior.
With six goals under his belt in just nine games, the Irish striker is back in the Ireland squad, and hoping to play a part under new manager Heimir Hallgrimsson in the upcoming international matches this week.
With Evan Ferguson emerging as the new hopeful to guide Ireland to brighter days, a lot of people have written off the former Spurs striker.
However, Parrott has an unlikely admirer as former Holland international Rafael van der Vaart has been singing his praises when speaking on Ziggo Sport.
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I think so, I think he’s going to be a very big player,.
“I don’t know what it is. I saw him at Excelsior, but then it was more on the counter.
“Now he is a good, footballing striker, who actually has everything. He just has to develop the killing a bit. He can perhaps play football a little too well to be a killer.
‘“Then you start wandering a bit and that costs strength. In the final phase you lack some strength to score. I really think he is a gem.”
Van der Vaart is not known for handing out compliments, and has a reputation of being very critical towards some big names in professional football.
The ex-Tottenham star once said that fromer Ireland international and Arsenal midiflder Declan Rice, was “useless.”
€100M for Declan Rice. What does he do? He comes to collect a ball only to pass it back to John Stones.
“He is useless. If you are truly worth €100M, then you should be able to play a ball forward.”
The list goes on, including a rather stinging monologue about Jordan Henderson following his transfer to Ajax, so whatever Parrot has been doing in the Netherlands, it must be really impressive to get this level of praise.
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