Dele Alli was an instant hit at Tottenham and made the step up from League One to the Premier League look minor following his £5million move from MK Dons.
Dele was a wonderkid who lived up to the hype. He had made his professional debut as a 16-year-old at MK Dons and showed enormous promise during four seasons with the club in which he bagged 24 goals and 15 assists.
It all came quickly for the attacking midfielder, who slotted straight in at Tottenham and had made his international debut for England just a few months after his Spurs bow. He was consistently excellent for three seasons at Spurs and was a regular for the Three Lions too.
But over the past few years his star has faded amid a spate of injuries, off-the-pitch problems and moves. Now 27, he is making headlines, not for scoring goals, but for being pictured with a balloon in his mouth while appearing to be surrounded by canisters of laughing gas.
Dele’s story is one of remarkable achievements and a sad dip which can hopefully be followed by a reignition of his career.
Making it look easy
"It won't be easy and I'll have to fight for my place in the team but I'll work hard to do that.”
Those were the words of Dele when he signed for Tottenham in February 2015. It may not have been easy, but he made it look so.
He contributed 67 goals and 61 assists in 269 appearances for Spurs between 2015 and 2022 and majority of those came within the first three years as the club’s faith – and £5m – were immediately rewarded.
The midfielder scored his first goal just a few weeks after his debut and never looked back, ending the 2015/16 Premier League campaign with 10 goals and nine assists from 33 appearances.
He was even better the following season, registering a staggering 18 goals and seven assists in the 2016/17 Premier League. He continued that consistency into the following campaign and was rewarded with a key role in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the 2018 World Cup, where he played in a “free No8” role to great effect, scoring his third international goal against Sweden. He has now not played for his country since 2019.
Glory days with Pochettino
Dele’s best days at Tottenham came under the management of Mauricio Pochettino, who was a big fan of the midfielder and provided him with a system in which he could thrive, playing off Harry Kane.
Pochettino put Dele in the same category as legends of the game like Diego Maradona and Ronaldinho, due to the way he showed his personality on the pitch.
Speaking about Maradona, he told Sky Sports in 2020: “The charisma is the best thing he has, when he walks into the room everyone watches him, everyone wants to touch him, wants to ask for a picture.
“His energy, you smell the energy, his charisma it’s amazing. Ronaldinho at Paris Saint-Germain was similar. And it’s similar in this way with Dele. People love him in this way.
“When you add the charisma to the talent, that’s what makes a special player. When he was scoring goals, kids loved him like he was Ronaldinho.”
Pochettino was sacked by Spurs in November 2019 – and Dele’s career has never been the same since. Dele returned 55 goals and 52 assists in 194 games under Pochettino’s management, but has floundered under a variety of other managers.
Mourinho’s warning
Jose Mourinho replaced Pochettino at Tottenham and it was the Portuguese manager who spoke some prophetic words on Dele’s career trajectory.
In the Amazon series, ‘All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur’, which covers the 2019/20 season, there is a scene where Mourinho calls Dele into his office. In the one-on-one chat he explains that he has “no doubts about your potential” but has “always felt that you had ups and downs”.
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He continued: “Why you have in your career these little ups and downs? I don’t know if it had to do with your lifestyle. If in one period you are an amazing professional, in another period you become a party boy, going out, I don’t know, I have no idea, only you can know that.
“I am 56 now and yesterday, yesterday I was 20, and today I’m 56. Time flies and I think one day I think you will regret if you don’t reach what you can reach.
“I’m not expecting you to be man of the match every game, I’m not expecting you to score goals every game, I want just to tell you that I think you will regret. You should demand more from you, not me, demanding more from you, not me, nobody, you, I think you should demand more from you.”
Those words of advice appear to have gone unheeded. Dele managed 10 goals and 10 assists in 51 games under Mourinho but his downturn in form became a slump under Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte. A fresh start was needed.
Never simple
In January 2022, Everton took a leap of faith, signing Dele from Tottenham in a deal which handed him nearly £100,000 per week and could reach £40m depending on performance-related clauses. Newly-installed manager Frank Lampard was key in getting the deal over the line.
“I'm pleased to work with him, it's very exciting, I'm sure we can do great things together,” Dele said at the time. Unfortunately, that never came to fruition: he has made just 13 appearances for the club, failing to score or assist.
After he played a part in Everton’s equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Leicester last season, Lampard explained the thought process behind signing Dele – and the hopes for the future.
“I don't think the story was ever going to be simple with Dele,” Lampard said. “We know the situation he came to us in terms of how the last couple of seasons have looked and the high level he reached for a big period of time at Tottenham.
“Sometimes you have to work and fight through things and we are in that process with him. I have a big level of communication with him and I explain a lot to him in terms of the demands of training and application and being ready for whenever that moment comes.”
No Turkish delight
Lampard was hopeful, but Everton’s decision to sign Dele has not worked out for either party. Dele was loaned to Turkish side Besiktas in August as the club took the pragmatic approach to cut their losses and avoid paying the £10m they owed Spurs when he reached 20 appearances.
Dele was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Istanbul, but his move to Turkey has not seen him return to his glory days at Tottenham. He has made just 15 appearances in the 2022/23 season for Besiktas, with three goals.
Dele joined up with fellow ex-Tottenham players Gedson Fernandes and Georges-Kevin N'Koudou, ex-Everton striker Cenk Tosun and former Southampton winger Nathan Redmond in Turkey, but could not settle.
Besiktas sporting director Ceyhun Kazanci admitted doubts earlier in the campaign. "No one can answer whether Dele Alli can do it right now,” he told TRT Spor. “He is working very hard. He is a player who reached €100million (in value) three years ago. He had a fall."
He completed 90 minutes just once and has been forced to rubbish reports he had gone AWOL from training before returning to the UK for an assessment on a hip injury last week.
Dele is now at a crossroads in his career. He turned 27 on April 11, meaning he still has many years left, if he can rediscover his past glories.
The midfielder still has just over a year on his Everton contract, but it remains to be seen whether he has a future at Goodison.
