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Done dealUpdated 07:39 UK · 21 Aug

Troy Parrott to Real Betis
Ireland striker seals €16m move

AZ AlkmaarAZ AlkmaarReal BetisReal BetisFee€16mReliability100%
The story so far
  1. 20 Aug
    Move completed
    Real Betis confirmed the signing of Troy Parrott from AZ Alkmaar on a five-year contract.

The move in full

Republic of Ireland striker Troy Parrott has joined Real Betis from AZ Alkmaar in a permanent deal reported at around €16m, signing a five-year contract that runs until 2031.

Troy Parrott has completed a permanent move from AZ Alkmaar to Real Betis, closing out two years in the Netherlands that transformed the Irish striker's career. The 24-year-old travelled to Seville and signed a five-year contract that runs until 2031, with Real Betis confirming the deal on 20 August. The fee is reported at around €16m, with add-ons that could take the total closer to €20m. Parrott has been handed the number 9 shirt at his new club.

Real Betis finished fifth in La Liga last season under Manuel Pellegrini, a result that secures Champions League football for 2026/27, and the club moved to add Parrott as another attacking option for the heavier season ahead. Completing the deal required some financial juggling: Betis sold defender Nobel Mendy to Hull City to help fund the move and stay inside La Liga's spending rules, and Parrott is understood to have accepted a lower salary than he might have commanded in the Premier League in order to fit the club's wage structure. AZ Alkmaar had reportedly been looking for closer to €25m before agreeing to sell.

For AZ, it means losing their top scorer from a season in which Parrott was the focal point of the team. He scored 31 goals in 48 appearances across all competitions in 2025/26 and helped the Dutch side win the KNVB Cup. It is a remarkable turnaround for a player who joined AZ from Tottenham Hotspur two years ago after struggling to break through in England. "The past two years have been the best of my life so far," Parrott said after completing the move. "Everyone at AZ helped me get my career back on track and to be able to make this move to Spain now."

His club form has been matched by his form for the Republic of Ireland. Parrott scored twice against Portugal during World Cup qualifying and then struck a hat-trick, including a stoppage-time winner, against Hungary. Those performances raised his profile across Europe and made him one of the most talked-about strikers outside the continent's biggest leagues this summer. West Ham United had also been credited with interest at various points, but it did not turn into a deal.

Real Betis' interest had been building for some time before the deal was completed. The Spanish club played a pre-season friendly against Arsenal in Dublin this summer, and speculation about a move for Parrott grew in the weeks that followed. Discussing the links on RTÉ's soccer podcast before the transfer was done, analyst Alan Cawley said working under Pellegrini would suit Parrott, calling the veteran coach "hugely experienced" and someone who "will look after him."

At 6ft1in and right-footed, Parrott is an out-and-out centre-forward rather than a wide or link-up option, and Pellegrini now has another senior striker to call on as Betis juggle La Liga with their first Champions League campaign in years. The size of the fee, and the number 9 shirt he has been given, both point to a club that expects him to play regularly rather than serve as understudy.

What it does to the model

Bawler's predictions are built from what teams actually do on the pitch — goals scored, chances created and chances conceded, and who starts each week — so a €16m striker walking into Real Betis' attack, and AZ Alkmaar losing their top scorer, both feed into how those numbers read once the new season is under way. Betis's attacking output will be watched closely around Parrott's debut, while AZ's forward line looks different without last season's leading scorer. Neither club's numbers move on the strength of the signing alone — they update as Parrott's minutes and end product are actually recorded on the pitch.

How this is scored100%
  • Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

Sources

Related: Real Betis team page · All transfersReal Betis — every match prediction

Where this move lands

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