Troy Parrott reveals Dutch delight but says Ireland ‘not seen best of me yet’

Republic of Ireland striker Troy Parrott is relishing the opportunity to make a name for himself away from the glare of the Premier League limelight.

The 22-year-old frontman has already scored six goals for AZ Alkmaar this season, four of them in a 9-1 Eredivisie demolition of Heerenveen, and rubbed shoulders with some of the continent’s big boys in last Thursday’s 2-0 Europa League defeat at Athletic Bilbao.

For a player who has been touted for big things since his emergence at Tottenham as a teenager, the chance to learn his trade without the scrutiny under which he was placed in England is a welcome relief.

Speaking on international duty ahead of Ireland’s Nations League clashes with Finland and Greece, Parrott said: “I was younger – I’ll tell the truth, it used to get to me a bit.

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“But now I am older, I have played more games, I have been in England and the Netherlands and am experiencing new things, so being away, it’s not necessarily being out of the spotlight, it’s just a new experience for me I’m really enjoying.”

Parrott made his Premier League debut for Spurs as a 17-year-old in December 2019 a matter of weeks after his senior bow for the Republic under Mick McCarthy.

However, the ensuing years have proved frustrating with loan spells at Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons, Preston and Dutch side Excelsior, before returning to the Netherlands this summer in a permanent switch to AZ.

Asked how the pressure had affected him, he said: “Trying to live up to the hype at such a young age. It was never going to happen that early because football isn’t so easy.

“For me it was more about growing up a bit and trying to block out the noise.”

That is something he has hard to learn to do at international level too.

Parrott scored his first senior Ireland goals – two of them – in a 4-1 friendly victory over Andorra in June 2021, but has not added substantially to his tally since with Ireland struggling for positive results during Stephen Kenny’s reign, which drew to a close in November last year.

Asked if his country had seen the best of him yet, he said: “Me, personally? No, I don’t think so.

“I’ve had some good moments in the Ireland shirt to date. But to answer the question, no, you’ve not seen the best of me.”

Ireland, who flew out to Helsinki on Tuesday without injured Cardiff midfielder Callum O’Dowda, will hope to see the best of both Parrott and the team as a whole when they face the Finns on Thursday, before heading to Athens on Sunday after back-to-back defeats by England and the Greeks in new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson’s first camp last month.

The Republic have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since Euro 2016, but the AZ marksman believes there are mitigating factors.

He said: “It’s been a difficult couple of campaigns for us in terms of results and quality of group opponents. The last group was Netherlands and France, world-class countries.

“It’s on us to try turn it around and start picking up results more regularly to get back to where we want to be.”