Troy Parrott is about to take the next step in his young career with a season-long loan move to Championship side Preston North End. Returning to Tottenham at the start of the month after such a successful time in League One with MK Dons, a move up a level will only aid the Irishman's development as he looks to achieve his end goal of becoming a Spurs regular.
The 20-year-old did not look out of place at all in his game time during Tottenham's South Korea tour, with his pending move to Preston, where he was having his medical on Monday, the reason for his absence from Antonio Conte's 24-man squad last Saturday for the 2-1 win at Rangers. However, another loan move, the fourth of his young career, was always going to be needed before he can finally challenge for a place in the Spurs squad going forward.
Not surprising at all to see a host of clubs queuing up to sign him going on his fine form at Stadium MK, the addition of Parrott is certainly a coup for the Lancashire club as Swansea City, Middlesbrough and QPR were among the sides keen on signing him. A regular in the MK Dons side in 2021/22 as he helped Liam Manning's team challenge for automatic promotion, he could potentially be involved in another promotion push if everything goes to plan for Preston.
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Languishing in 18th at the start of December after such a frustrating start to the campaign, Ryan Lowe replaced Frankie McAvoy in the hotseat at Deepdale and their fortunes changed as a result. Only losing a further six games in league after the managerial switch, Preston finished the campaign in 13th, 11 points off the final play-off place.
Had Lowe taken on the job earlier or had started the campaign in the hotseat, the Lilywhites may well have challenged for a play-off berth or even secured a place in the top six. The Liverpudlian admitted in April that his football philosophy is now visible in his side, playing possession-based attacking football and opting against a long-ball approach.
Lowe has had plenty of time this summer to implement his philosophy at the club and they may well be dark horses for the play-offs if their form from last season carries on into the new term. Providing of course that everything marries up and it clicks for Preston in the final third, Parrott could hit the ground running as MK Dons also played a similar possession-based style and impressed going forward.
Emil Riis Jakobsen was the team's top scorer with 20 goals in all competitions, with Aston Villa youngster Cameron Archer joining on loan in January and scoring seven times in his 20 appearances. Archer benefited massively from his time in Lancashire and he may now be set to feature in Steven Gerrard's Villa squad in the new campaign after grabbing a couple of goals in pre-season.
The Villa starlet wowed in the Championship and helped take his game to a new level in his short time at the club, thus showing Spurs what could potentially happen with Parrott at Preston. What will also help out the young striker is that Lowe has a vast amount of experience in the game having himself played as a striker in the EFL.
Scoring goals for fun in two spells at Bury, the 43-year-old also played for Sheffield Wednesday, MK Dons and Tranmere Rovers to name a few during his long career. The opportunity to work with Lowe, who knows the EFL incredibly well and is a highly-regarded manager, will only benefit Parrott in the long run.
The frontman will also be helped out by Preston's Irish contingent, notably Lilywhites captain Alan Browne. Parrott is also familiar with Robbie Brady and Sean Maguire from Republic of Ireland international duty and the trio can help ensure the Tottenham man has a smooth transition into life in the Championship.
Parrott is no stranger to the division having played for Millwall in the first part of the 2020/21 season, injury unfortunately restricting him to 11 appearances in the league before Tottenham recalled him and sent him to Ipswich Town. His move to The Den two years ago did not work out but now he has the chance to show what he is really about at Preston on the back of such a successful time at MK Dons.
Tottenham have had issues picking the right loan clubs for players in the past but they may have found the perfect team in Preston for their highly-rated striker.
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