It’s that time of year where predictions are made, new signings are analysed, and fans of clubs from Tottenham Hotspur to Trevisio are counting down the seconds until the first whistle sounds.
After a promising first season under Ange Postecoglou, what can Spurs achieve in their second?
Can they go one step further, from fifth to fourth, and secure Champions League qualification?
Can youngsters Lucas Bergvall, Will Lankshear, Mikey Moore and £35 million teenager Archie Gray make the step up and prove themselves capable of thriving on the biggest of stages?
Or will a stand-out pre-season for Lankshear, Moore and co be the closest they come to establishing themselves as first-team regulars in that famous white shirt.
Summer friendlies can be a dangerous way to analyse the potential of young, homegrown talent. Cast your minds back to 2019, when a section of Tottenham Hotspur supporters were urging Mauricio Pochettino to throw Troy Parrott in at the deep end in the hope that another Harry Kane was about to be unearthed.
Tottenham Hotspur sell Troy Parrott to AZ Alkmaar
Five years on, Parrott departs Spurs having made only four senior appearances, and after hit-and-miss loan spells at Millwall, Ipswich Town, MK Dons and Preston North End. Only time will tell whether Lankshear and Moore take the same path of Kane, or whether they suffer the same fate as Parrott.
Though that is not to say the Republic of Ireland international cannot still enjoy the sort of career most young footballers can only dream of.
Parrott scored a career-best 17 goals on loan at Excelsior last season.
A tally that was enough to convince one of Dutch football’s top clubs – AZ Alkmaar – to invest a club-record £7 million and make the Dublin-born 22-year-old their heir apparent to Golden Boot-winning hitman Vangelis Pavlidis following his switch to Benfica.
Parrott has certainly made a good first impression too.
He scored on his unofficial debut in the 3-0 friendly win over KV Kortrijk, AZ boss Maarten Martens – yes, really – labelling him a ‘complete player’ in the aftermath.
Eredivisie expert Mike Bell, meanwhile, cannot scarcely his excitement. After shining in a poor Excelsior side which ended up suffering relegation, he can’t wait to see how high Parrott can fly with better players around him.
“I think Troy Parrott is going to be a revelation,” Bell says on Football Oranje’s season preview podcast. “He’s already been very good in pre-season.
“I think (AZ Alkmaar) were relying too heavily on Pavlidis last season. And when he didn’t score, they didn’t score.
“I think having Parrott there and (19-year-old Lequincio) Zeefuik as a back up, they have got enough there to challenge.”
Former Spurs striker will be ‘a revelation’
Maybe not to ‘challenge’ for the title, but certainly the Champions League spots. AZ finished fourth last term despite sacking highly-rated head coach Pascal Jansen midway through the campaign.
33-goal talisman Pavlidis, meanwhile, had been scouted by Fulham, West Ham United and Crystal Palace, HITC understands.
The snake-hipped Greek now moves to Benfica for £17 million.
“Now that Vangelis is gone, other guys have to step up. Including me,” AZ playmaker Sven Mijnans tells Voetbal International while backing Parrott to help offset the disappointment at Pavlidis’ admittedly-inevitable departure.
“Troy has to start scoring his goals. The wingers have to start scoring their goals. (Former Southampton ace) Jordy Clasie can score a few. Everyone has to start scoring their goals now.
“Troy is a technical and very intelligent player,” Mijnans adds. ‘We haven’t been playing together for long but, in terms of position changes, it’s going well.
“The nice thing is, he has depth but can also get on the ball. He keeps the ball and has a good bounce (in terms of linking the play with clever, one-touch passes). We often talk about how we can complement each other.
“If I go deep, he drops back and vice versa. I think we can find a good rhythm.”
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