“He’s a really good player. I don’t believe that Manchester United are going to be the only club that’s interested in signing him and to get him out of Brighton is going to cost a team £100 million. It’s that simple.”So said Andy Cole a couple of years back around the time there was no end of chat about Evan Ferguson’s future after he had broken through at Brighton.Around the same time, Troy Parrott, unwanted by Spurs, was finishing up yet another loan move, this time with Preston North End, and there was little or no talk about where he’d end up next.If we didn’t know already that football is a fickle beast, the change in fortunes of the two young Republic of Ireland strikers, in a relatively short space of time, underlines the notion.All is quiet for now on the Ferguson transfer front, the 21-year-old still recovering from the surgery he had in March on the ankle that has caused him persistent problems and prompted an early end to his loan spell with Roma. Partly due to that affliction, his career has hit the buffers since that heady start to his time in the Premier League.There are, though, another three years left on his contract with Brighton, and manager Fabian Hürzeler has insisted that the 21-year-old can still have a future at the club. That, need it be said, will depend on whether he can overcome his injury woes, and if he can rediscover the form that had the likes of Andy Cole putting him in the £100 million bracket. Even if that was a bit on the mad side. Evan Ferguson and Troy Parrott celebrate after Ireland's Euro 2024 qualifying win over Gibraltar in Dublin. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho What of the Parrott man? Well, if he spends his summer talking to all of the clubs he has been linked with after scoring 31 goals in 48 appearances for AZ Alkmaar in the season just ended, not to mention six in three unforgettable 2025 games for Ireland, he won’t catch a glimpse of a beach.AC Milan, Wolfsburg, Borussia Dortmund, Real Betis, Leeds, Everton, West Ham, Fulham, Coventry, Ipswich are all on the verge of signing him, we’ve been told, with a return to Spurs being mooted too. That would be a curious enough one, seeing as the London club is reported to have a 20 per cent sell-on clause on the fee Alkmaar would receive should the Dubliner set sail this summer.And after hobbling out of Alkmaar’s final game of the season at the weekend, Parrott gave a pretty strong indication that he would be moving on.“A lot can happen in football,” he said, “but if it was my last match with Alkmaar, I’ve had the best two years of my life. Now it is important for me to take the next step in my career and to play at the highest level. But no, I have no dreams regarding a destination I want to go to.”The latter comment appeared to draw a red line through talk about his dream move being a return to Spurs, and considering how their season has gone, that is probably wise.Mind you, Roberto De Zerbi is in charge now and he has the knack of getting the best out of young Irish strikers – well, one anyway: Ferguson. While he was tough on him during their time together at Brighton, never shy of pointing out where he needed to improve his game, he was good for him too and rated him highly, later trying to sign him on loan for Marseille.But it will be interesting to see where Parrott chooses to go next – a return to England, or a stay on the Continent, where he has flourished since first joining Rotterdam club Excelsior on loan in 2023?Whatever he decides, it’s likely that his transfer fee will come close – or even surpass – the €26-ish million Brentford paid Wolves for Nathan Collins in 2023 – the highest fee ever paid for an Irish player.Parrott, safe to say, has come a long way from the time no one paid much attention to what he’d do with himself after his Preston loan. It will be fascinating to see what the man who had us gasping for air after his Budapest heroics does next.