Football London

Troy Parrott has impressed since leaving Tottenham Hotspur in July 2024

Troy Parrott has started the 2026/27 season in sensational form but a return to Tottenham in the future just doesn't make sense, according to Chris Waddle.

The former Spurs wonderkid played just four times for the club after arriving from Irish side Belvedere at 16. He often found himself on loan away from north London and it was during a spell with Excelsior Rotterdam where he really came into his own, scoring 17 goals in 32 appearances.

The Dutch side ended up buying Parrott for £6.7million plus a 20 per cent sell-on clause and the striker fired 51 goals in 97 appearances for AZ, laying on 17 assists as well.

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Parrott, who has scored 15 goals in 41 appearances for Republic of Ireland, joined Real Betis this summer in a £17.1million deal that netted Spurs around £3.4million. He already has two goals and an assist to his name for the La Liga side, which includes scoring the winner against Real Madrid.

That form, combined with Tottenham's poor start to the season and struggles to put the ball in the net, has led to some speculation linking Parrott with a dramatic return to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Former Spurs star Waddle does not believe a £67.5million move makes sense, however.

Speaking to talkSPORT Bet, who offer the latest sports betting, Waddle said: "Tottenham have produced three or four good young players coming through. Will Lankshear went to Boro, and Mikey Moore went on loan to Rangers. But when you're talking about the top level at Tottenham, with expectations of playing in the Champions League, it's hard to look at a youngster and know if he'll be the next Harry Kane.

"It's very difficult, and Tottenham decided to buy established centre-forwards rather than stick with those youngsters. Whether they thought they weren't ready for Spurs is another thing, but they moved them on.

"I wouldn't see the sense in buying Troy Parrott back for €80million (£67.5m) if you let him go for peanuts. Mind you, players often leave big clubs and make a success of their careers elsewhere.

"At the end of the day, a club has to decide whether to offer a long-term contract and if the player will make the first team. If they don't see him breaking through for three or four years, they decide to sell while there are decent offers, ideally putting a buy-back clause in place.

"They decided to go for experience with Solanke and others, letting the younger players move on. When those players flourish elsewhere and command big transfer fees, you have to say well done to them, even if Tottenham got the decision wrong."

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Manchester City have a cloud hanging over their success after being found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules in a way that could have cost Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur missed out on almost £120 million, more than anyone else, by finishing behind Manchester City during the period the Premier League leaders have been found guilty of breaking financial rules. Arsenal and Chelsea have also seen a significant loss in earnings, missing out on £30.9m and £45.8m respectively.

City were found guilty of 114 breaches between 2009 and 2018 by an independent commission and now face the prospect of a fine, points deductions or even expulsion from the Premier League. The club maintains its innocence and has appealed the ruling.

But with City's guilt established for the moment, it's impossible not to speculate over how teams may have missed out, with the club possibly overperforming due to the use of 'sham contracts'. Without them, where would City have finished?

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Tottenham finished one place outside of the Champions League positions on four occasions, while City finished above them and qualified for Europe's top competition. According to the BBC, City's earnings from their Champions League campaigns totalled £148.2m, whereas the Lilywhites took home only £29.9m from their Europa League efforts: a £118.3m difference.

Overall, Spurs finished behind Manchester City six times and rising one position on the table on each of those occasions would have seen the north London side pick up an additional £6.6m.

However, City's success also saw Spurs benefit to the tune of £5.1m after qualifying for the Europa League in 2014/15 because their rivals beat Sunderland in the Carabao Cup final. Tottenham missed out on a possible £119,904,410 in total, the report claims.

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Chelsea also missed out on European earnings by finishing outside of the Champions League positions when City qualified. Their journey to becoming the champions of the Europa League saw £39.4million in winnings.

However, that was still less than half of what City were able to claim by reaching the quarter-final of the Champions League and pocketing £79.2m. That saw a difference of £39.6m from a single season.

Likewise, Arsenal recorded a deficit of £22.1m after finishing fifth in 2016/17

During the offending period, the BBC report that City were paid £1.17bn across domestic and European competition. They claim clubs could have missed out on a massive £844m.

That included £188.2m in Premier League placing money, £349.7m in relegation costs, £217.8m in missed Champions League prize money and £88.3m related to domestic cup competitions and the Europa League.

The former England and Liverpool star has had his say on Tottenham Hotspur's warm-weather training trip to Spain this week

Steven Gerrard has warned Roberto De Zerbi to be "very careful" about Tottenham's warm-weather training camp in Marbella and that he thinks it's a risk.

Spurs are heading off this week to Spain for a few days to ensure De Zerbi's new-look squad, with 10 summer arrivals still bedding in, become closer and bond further in order to get them moving in the right direction after Saturday's dramatic draw at Old Trafford showed progress within a team that lie 19th in the early table.

"We have to build the team. Now the target is to build the team, not the group of the players. We are a great group of the players, but we are not a team yet," said De Zerbi after the game at Old Trafford.

On the purpose of the trip to Marbella, he said: "To work together, to stay together, to go for dinner together, to know better each other, because to be a team you have to know the team-mates, and stay together."

In an episode this week of the Overlap Daily, Gerrard was asked about Tottenham's training camp in Spain and it made him recall when Rafa Benitez took the Liverpool players to the Algarve for a few days ahead of a Champions League match against Barcelona in 2007.

After a karaoke night went wrong, John Arne Riise would later claim in his autobiography that team-mate Craig Bellamy lost control and swung a golf club at him back in the hotel that evening leaving him with bruises down his legs. Bellamy was fined and both players would end up scoring the goals in the 2-1 win against Barcelona, Bellamy celebrating his by swinging his arms in a golf club motion, but the media frenzy around the trip stuck with the team.

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So when asked about Spurs' trip this week, Gerrard shook his head before saying: "You're speaking to the wrong person. You're speaking to the wrong person, I'm telling you, because whilst they can work and they can be beneficial, I've experienced it with Rangers going to Dubai, and we derailed one year, and then we done it the year after and we improved and kicked on.

"So I've seen the pros and the cons and I've experienced the pros and the cons. I would say Marbella is brave just in terms of location, risk, because there's a lot of other places where you can go that are probably safer. Although the players nowadays are a different generation to us and the generation before.

"But as soon as you mentioned it, it just sprung to mind, and I just think of mid-season camps. I just think, be careful, be very careful, especially if you're in a position like Spurs, when you're down the bottom of the table. Be very careful. And Marbella to me, I just think risk. I just think risk."

Thinking back to that controversial Liverpool trip, he added: "The team bonding worked in terms of the result, but I'm just talking about the risk. You have to be really careful when you're away, especially when you're in Marbella."

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The Italian made an important contribution for Tottenham Hotspur and reacted differently to everyone else in the team to their late leveller

Sandro Tonali had a different reaction to his Tottenham team-mates after Dominic Solanke's 92nd-minute equaliser at Manchester United on Saturday night.

The Italy international had grabbed his first assist for the club since his £100million move from Newcastle this summer when he curled in a pinpoint cross for the Spurs striker to head home in added time to rescue a point after Bryan Mbeumo's second half goal had threatened to undo all of the away side's good work.

Goalscorer and captain for the day Solanke was immediately grabbed by team-mates Savio, Archie Gray and substitute Omar Marmoush and the visiting players ran over to the travelling Tottenham faithful in the corner of Old Trafford. Tonali made a different decision though, choosing to instead sprint over from the other side of the penalty area to the far touchline to hug head coach Roberto De Zerbi.

His compatriot had grabbed a spare ball by the touchline to his mouth and tried to take a hefty bite out of it as he screamed his delight before seeing Tonali run towards him.

It spoke volumes about the relationship between the Italians, which helped Spurs sign the 26-year-old in the summer, and also the acknowledgement that it was a big moment for De Zerbi as well, as the criticism had grown outside a club that had spent plenty of money on transfers in the summer but is still without a Premier League win this season.

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Not only was it Tonali's first assist for Tottenham but he managed another feat on the day. The midfielder recorded a sprint of 34.2kmh, which was a top speed that no other starting player on the pitch from either side could reach.

It was only beaten when De Zerbi brought Marmoush off the bench and the Egyptian logged a sprint of 35.1kmh. Mohammed Kudus rounded out a Tottenham top three as the fastest of all players from both sides with a sprint of 33.8kmh.

Tonali might not look like the fastest player around but he ran quicker than the likes of Mbeumo and Savio on the day as well as Spurs skipper Micky van de Ven, who came on later in the game.

The Italy international has been gradually improving since his big-money move from Newcastle and in recent games has been showing the kind of form and fitness De Zerbi expects of him.