Dele Alli's loan move to Besiktas has taken yet another disastrous turn, with the midfielder expected to return to the UK for assessment of an injury.
Dele has endured a dire season at the Turkish giants, making just 15 appearances in all competitions. It had been hoped that the move to the Turkish Super Lig may have reinvigorated his career, but that has failed to materialise.
Instead, it is hard to see where the Englishman goes from here, having also had a number of run-ins with boss Senol Gunes. He has been hit by a further setback after suffering a muscle injury, which has now led to him returning to parent club Everton.
According to Sky Sports, Dele is due to fly in to Merseyside on Saturday, with the Toffees' medical staff to assess his injury. Besiktas had wanted to cancel his loan move in the January transfer window.
But the Turkish club were unable to as there was no break clause in the agreement that saw him join them temporarily. He joined Everton in February 2022, but failed to impress and was shipped out to Besiktas less than six months later.
His last appearance for Besiktas came at the end of February, in a goalless draw against Antalyaspor. He has not featured since then though and was recently accused of going AWOL by Gunes.
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It subsequently emerged that Dele had been given permission to return to England for a doctor's appointment. He was brought back into the squad despite being told he will not be part of Gunes for the rest of his loan.
Dele had a separate run-in with Gunes earlier this season after Besiktas were dumped out of the Turkish cup competition, the Tukiye Kupasi. The midfielder was hauled off after 29 minutes of Besiktas' win over Sanliurfaspor in the fifth round.
Matters took a turn for the worse in the last 16 defeat to MKE Ankaragücü at the end of January. Dele was left on the bench for that game, with boss Gunes insisting Alli had work to do to get his way back into the team.
"Dele Alli has had a good career. But he doesn't deserve to play at the moment. The current situation has not met our expectations as a team," Gunes said after his side's defeat on penalties.
"We expect him to contribute to the team, but we think he cannot contribute at the moment. We will evaluate it with him and the club. We prepared for the matches with the players here.
"We will make an evaluation by looking at these players in the match on Sunday. We will evaluate if there is a transfer. The transfer will be discussed in this month, as in all teams. I cannot answer this at the moment."
