Photo via Evening Standard

Have Tottenham already lost their dream Harry Kane successor?

Read the original at Evening Standard ↗
Cite

Tabuteau, S. (2026, October 5). Have Tottenham already lost their dream Harry Kane successor? Evening Standard. https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/have-tottenham-already-lost-dream-harry-kane-successor-b1299571.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Evening Standard · collected 2026-10-05 · by Sam Tabuteau

Quick Summary

Tottenham fans are questioning whether they missed out on their chance to retain forward Troy Parrott, who left for AZ Alkmaar and then moved to Real Betis this summer. Parrott has scored 51 goals in 97 appearances for AZ and is now flourishing at Betis with notable performances against Real Madrid and Lille. Meanwhile, Tottenham has struggled to score, leading some supporters to wonder if they should have kept Parrott or explored other options like signing Adam Lankshear from Middlesbrough, who scored eight goals in his first 11 appearances there.
Written by AI on 2026-10-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Tottenham Hotspur may have missed out on a potential star striker after letting Joshua King Parrott leave in 2024. Parrott, who came through Tottenham's youth ranks and made his senior debut under Mauricio Pochettino, struggled for opportunities there. He moved to AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, where he scored an impressive 51 goals in 97 appearances, before joining Real Betis this summer. Now flourishing at Real Betis with strong praise from his manager, some Spurs fans are wondering if they made a mistake by not retaining Parrott. Meanwhile, Tottenham's current poor form—scoring just two goals in their opening five league games this season—has highlighted the club’s need for a reliable striker like Parrott could have been.

Written for “Tottenham Football Transfers” on 2026-11-02, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Tottenham Football Transfers
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
20%
3 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Evening Standard's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Evening Standard · 8215 article(s) · 73 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 73 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Sam Tabuteau
107 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Sage is under increasing pressure to turn things around, with Palace mired in the relegation zone after winning one of their first nine league games, but he insists he will continue to fight for his future.
🔮 It may not have been pretty, but Tottenham are quickly relearning the art of winning again after their 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace made it three wins in a row for the first time since February 2025.
🔮 This was the sort of game where he would have been eager to add to his goal tally.
🔮 Head coach Roberto De Zerbi initially downplayed fears that Maddison had suffered another significant problem, and confirmed on Friday that he would be in contention to face Palace.
🔮 On Lucas Bergvall, who also picked up a knee injury against Manchester United, De Zerbi initially said he would be out for around two weeks.
🔮 Pep Chavarria is set to return to the matchday squad, but Jorrel Hato remains sidelined.
🔮 I wouldn't be where I am today without Tottenham, for sure," Kane said.
🔮 On a disappointing evening at Anfield, Lacroix left the pitch with a hamstring injury just before half time, and Alonso said afterwards he did not know how long the Frenchman would be out.
🔮 Martinez has since undergone surgery, and said he would be “back in a few weeks”, a timescale manager Xabi Alonso backed up ahead of last weekend’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham.
🔮 "I will never do that and you can ask her, she was on the joke with me.
Also by Sam Tabuteau
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 107 articles by Sam Tabuteau →

Topics

England Middlesbrough Premier League Real Betis Spurs

Subjects

Parrott PERSON · 9× Spurs ORG · 7× Lankshear PERSON · 4× England GPE · 3× Premier League ORG · 3× Middlesbrough ORG · 2× Real Betis ORG · 2× Austria GPE · 1× John Aldridge PERSON · 1× Robbie Keane PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The Real Betis forward, who drew adulation for his sublime solo goal against Austria last week, has not had a straightforward journey to the top but is now beginning to prove that he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Robbie Keane and John Aldridge as Ireland’s leading man.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-05
🔮 While there will be a tinge of regret in letting Parrott leave, hindsight is a wonderful thing It is hard to see how Parrott would not make an impact for a Spurs side that has scored just two goals in their opening five league games this season.
2026-10-05 · Evening Standard
Have Tottenham already lost their dream Harry Kane successor? · assertive framing

Claims (15 extracted, 3 hedged)

The Real Betis forward, who drew adulation for his sublime solo goal against Austria last week, has not had a straightforward journey to the top but is now beginning to prove that he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Robbie Keane and John Aldridge as Ireland’s leading man. asserted
it → draw → man
Parrott came through the ranks at Tottenham, was handed his senior debut by Mauricio Pochettino, and later his Premier League debut under Jose Mourinho. asserted
Parrott → come → Mourinho
Parrott eventually left England for Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in 2024 in an effort to take ownership of a career that had slowly begun to drift after a succession of unsuccessful loan spells in the lower tiers. asserted
that → leave → tiers
Parrott bet big on his ability, and it paid off as he scored 51 goals in 97 appearances for AZ before making the move to Real Betis this summer. asserted
he → bet → Betis
The 24-year-old is flourishing, described by Hallgrimsson as having a “special gift” in front of goal, and it has left some Spurs fans wondering if Parrott is the one that got away. asserted
that → flourish → fans
The England captain, who netted 61 times across all competitions last season, has gone from strength to strength while Spurs have continued to lose goals from their team, with Heung-min Son and 2024/25 top scorer Brennan Johnson also leaving north London. asserted
Son → net → London
While there will be a tinge of regret in letting Parrott leave, hindsight is a wonderful thing It is hard to see how Parrott would not make an impact for a Spurs side that has scored just two goals in their opening five league games this season. asserted
that → let → games
However, a return to England was on the cards for Parrott this summer in the form of a proposed move to West Ham. asserted
return → propose → Ham
Yet he turned it down, opting instead to test himself in Spain’s top-flight. asserted
he → turn → flight
Read More His highlights so far include a late winner against Real Madrid and the goal that sealed Betis’ 3-2 victory over Lille in their first Champions League game for 21 years. asserted
that → read → years
While there will perhaps be a tinge of regret in letting Parrott leave, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and there is no telling whether his sharp penalty-box instincts and off-the-ball movement would have translated to an increasingly physical Premier League. asserted
instincts → let → League
It is Lankshear’s development that Spurs will be keeping a closer eye on, with the 21-year-old scoring eight goals in 11 appearances across all competitions for Middlesbrough since completing a move in July that could rise as high as £20million. uncertain
that → keep → 20million
Noted for his physicality, Lankshear is in the mould of a modern Premier League striker, and Spurs hedged their bets by including matching rights and a 20 per cent sell-on clause in the deal that took him to the Riverside Stadium. asserted
that → note → Stadium
It is clear that Spurs, while trying to maximise player sales out of their academy, still have one eye on Lankshear and could look to bring him back to the club if he continues in the rich vein of form that has Middlesbrough in contention for promotion to the Premier League. uncertain
that → try → League
Parrott may have been the original Kane succession plan, but it is currently Lankshear that looks best placed to step out of the former Spurs captain’s shadow. uncertain
that → look → shadow
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support