Parrott Release Clause Passes Through Four Websites By Breakfast And Gains Only Adjectives

A €100 million release clause reported by Estadio Deportivo had, by breakfast on Tuesday, been repeated by four websites, none of which added a single fact to it, according to a review carried out at a kitchen table.

The original report, the Herald understands, said that Troy Parrott's contract at Real Betis reportedly contains the clause, and that Betis have no immediate concern about losing him. It was a modest sentence and it was handled as one, briefly.

The first website to repeat it described the clause as a major warning for Tottenham. The second removed the word reportedly. The third called the figure a price tag, and by the fourth it had become enormous and was accompanied by a paragraph on what Spurs had let go.

It says they've been handed a warning. Handed by who? It doesn't say. But it's a hundred million, so you'd have to take it seriously.

Each version also noted that Spurs have scored twice in five Premier League matches under Roberto De Zerbi. This figure remained exactly the size it was at the start, and was the only item to do so apart from the clause.

The review found no new quote, figure or source at any stage of the journey. Parrott's four senior appearances for the club before leaving permanently in 2024 appeared in all four articles, in the same order, with the same verb.

The reader worked through them in sequence, pausing only to turn the toast over.

That's four separate sources, that is. They can't all be wrong.

Each article closed by conceding there is no indication Tottenham are preparing to trigger the clause. In every case this appeared in the final paragraph, below the advert for a bookmaker.

The toast went cold.