Ange Postecoglou explains why Troy Parrott had to leave Tottenham last summer

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Troy Parrott returns to North London on Thursday to face the club where he spent seven years at before leaving for the Netherlands.

The striker joined AZ Alkmaar over the summer in a deal worth around £6.7 million following a successful loan spell with Excelsior.

Parrott will now face Tottenham in the Europa League as his new club travel to England for their third group-stage game of the season.

The 22-year-old has made a great start to life at Alkmaar having scored six goals in 11 games, including in the Europa League against Elfsborg. He will now be hoping to find the back of the net against the club that gave him his start in professional football.

Why Tottenham decided to sell Troy Parrott

Ange Postecoglou has revealed that the timing was the reason behind Parrott being sold by Tottenham over the summer. There was no place for Parrott in Postecoglou’s squad this campaign with Dominic Solanke, Heung-min Son and Will Lankshear all ahead of him.

Spurs decided rather than sending him out on loan again, last summer was the time to accept a permanent deal for the striker.

Postecoglou told the media: “It is good to see Troy doing well, I think he had a great loan spell in the Dutch League last year. He is looking like he started his AZ career in positive fashion too so it is great.”

Postecoglou has used the example of Solanke as a player who was at two top clubs, took the step down and eventually found his way back to the top level.

“In terms of getting a chance, sometimes in football it is just about timing. We have a striker here mate who was at Chelsea and Liverpool early in his career and he has done alright since. There is a pathway forward for everybody,” the Spurs boss added.

Ange Postecoglou provides Heung-min Son injury update

Heung-min Son missed training ahead of the Europa League clash with AZ Alkmaar raising fears he has suffered an injury setback. Fortunately, Postecoglou has clarified that the South Korean forward was missing training as the plan was to rest him for Thursday’s match.

Postecoglou said: “Sonny was a bit sore after the weekend, he was never going to be involved tomorrow anyway because he missed a bit.

“So we are just leaving him out of tomorrow and see how he is from there. Djed Spence trained individually today. Everyone else was out there.”