After struggling with the "hype" that surrounded him earlier in his career, Troy Parrott hopes to use the confidence gained from a move abroad to help the Republic of Ireland's cause against Finland and Greece this week. The 22-year-old striker has flourished in the top tier of Dutch football over the past year, recently netting four in a game for new club AZ Alkmaar after scoring 17 times on loan for Excelsior last season. Parrott's move to the Netherlands came after several loan spells in the second and third tiers of English football away from Tottenham, for whom he managed only four senior appearances after being handed his Premier League debut by Jose Mourinho aged 17.
But having starred for AZ Alkmaar - who are third in the Eredivisie and are in this season's Europa League - Parrott aims to breathe new life into his international career after being an unused substitute in last month's Nations League games. "When I was a bit younger, I'll tell the truth, it used to get to me a bit," Parrott, who has five goals in 23 caps, said of his early-career pressure. He added: "Just trying to live up to the hype in a way at such a young age where it was never going to happen that early, football's never so easy.
It was more about growing up a bit and trying to block the noise out. "It [the hype] was a lot with the media. There weren't people around me from within.
I obviously knew I had talent. How good I was I don't know. I didn't get many games to try and show that.
" Parrott was .