Dele Alli is linked with a move to Besiktas
(Picture: Getty Images)Real Madrid once appeared Dele Alli’s most likely destination outside English football, so it is jarring he is weighing up an approach from Besiktas, even considering his sad decline.
Everton are open to allowing Dele to move to the Turkish club, who are interested in a loan or permanent deal, just seven months after his free transfer from Tottenham to Goodison Park.
Joining Everton was supposed to kickstart Dele’s career, offering him a fresh start under an arm-around-the-shoulder type manager in Frank Lampard, the Premier League’s greatest goal-scoring midfielder.
For the Toffees to be willing to lose him, despite their shortage of firepower and amid Chelsea’s pursuit of Anthony Gordon, is telling and suggests a change of environment has not roused Dele from the stupor which has characterised his career since after the 2018 World Cup.
Even if the two-time PFA Young Player of the Year turns down the move, plainly there is little faith at Everton that he can fill the void left by the sale of Richarlison and injury to Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
He has made just one league start for the Toffees and contributed little in a handful of cameos from the bench.
A move to Turkey would come with certain connotations, although is not necessarily without merit.
In an interview with Standard Sport in January, Millwall’s Benik Afobe, who had recently spent a season on loan at Trabzonspor, spoke enthusiastically about his year in the Super Lig.
Afobe painted a vivid picture of the intensity of the city’s rivalries, describing how he ate in restaurants for free after a derby win but preferred not to leave his house for days following a big defeat. Maybe that kind of passionate, all-or-nothing environment could help Dele to rediscover his spark away from the glare of the Premier League spotlight.
Generally speaking, however, the Super Lig is the destination for big-name players of advancing years, who are past their best and seeking a final thrill or pay-day at a gentler pace.
It should not, typically, be the choice for a 26-year-old England international, who should be approaching his prime.
Among the English players to have recently played in Turkey, aside from Afobe, are Aaron Lennon, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Drinkwater, all of whom are currently without clubs.
For all the atmosphere and emotion, the Super Lig’s quality is some way from top European football and, by way of example, Dele would be joining former Spurs team-mates Georges-Kevin Nkoudou and Gedson Fernandes at Besiktas, who finished sixth last season.
If he opts for the move, it would be hard not to feel as though it signalled an acceptance that Dele is no longer suited to elite European football and perhaps even no longer has the appetite for the professional game itself.
In considering Dele’s form over the last few years, it is worth remembering the words of Mauricio Pochettino, his former manager at Spurs.
Pochettino appears to have feared that Dele might lose that naughtiness and, with it, the hunger and spark.
“Dele Alli is Dele Alli because he’s a little bit naughty. Does he need that naughtiness? Yes, in context. Don’t cross the line, but this is a little bit his identity. It’s his character — in a good way,” said Pochettino.
Reading Pochettino’s words back, he appears to have feared that Dele might one day lose that naughtiness and, with it, the hunger and spark that made him such an exciting player.
If there is a note of optimism for Dele, once Pochettino’s concerns were proved correct, he also predicted the midfielder would recover.
“The devil is going to appear again,” Pochettino said in November 2019, when questions around Dele’s form were mounting. “I don’t know when. But for sure it will.”
The question for Dele is whether taking a chance in Turkey may aid his chances of that revival.
