Dele Alli: A steep career fall. Besiktas wants to get rid of him, not even his parent club wants him. What happened to him?

A few years ago he was one of the most valuable footballers on the planet. At the moment, even his parent club doesn’t want him. Dele Alli is a prime example of how easy it is to squander great talent.

In 2015, Tottenham were still getting used to Mauricio Pochettino’s game and style. The Argentine coach built a solid club brimming with plenty of young guns that were supposed to lead the club to glory.

At the head of this pack was, of course, Harry Kane. The ambitious team later expanded to include another hopeful. In January, they secured the services of a young footballer called Dele Alli. Back then, he spent the rest of the year on loan at MK Dons in the Third Division.

For the next two seasons, Dele built a name for himself as one of the most talented footballers on the planet. He was young, predatory, energetic and these aspects made him fit perfectly into the active and pressing style of play that Pochettino applied.

The transition from the third division to the toughest league in the world was no problem for him. He immediately became a key figure for the club.

He put up great numbers in his first two seasons. He closed the 2015/16 season with ten goals and nine assists. A year later there were eighteen goals and seven assists. He became the first player in history to win the PFA Young Player of The Year award twice.

Alli’s price tag was around 100 million euros. He was racking up numbers that no one in England after Frank Lampard was racking up.

What actually happened to him?

For Alli, life off the pitch became more important than on the pitch. When he was at the height of his fame and playing regularly for the national team, his brand became paramount. He seems to have lost his passion for football. He’s lost the passion. He’s lost the motivation.

The various injuries that dragged him down must have caused his downfall. Even Mourinho didn’t jump-start his career again. Initially it seemed that a change in coaching position might help him. Dele started to move to a more advanced position again, which started to show in the number of goals he scored.

Unfortunately, with the advent of good form came coronavirus and the suspension of all competitions. During the break, a video surfaced on the internet of him verbally attacking a person from Asia because of a possible coronavirus infection, which again raised question marks about his maturity.

After the break, Alli failed to follow up on his previous performances. Tottenham changed their game strategy significantly. It became a team that was more backed up on counter attacks, which did not suit its position. For the following season, the footballer was already more for cup matches and almost did not interfere in league matches at all.

Mourinho was later replaced by Nuno Santo, under whom the whole of Tottenham floundered. The attacking play was at a standstill at that point and despite Dele returning to pre-season training in great shape, it wasn’t very noticeable on the pitch.

Spurs suffered as a unit in that moment. They didn’t fit their philosophy. Santo didn’t last long on the club’s bench and after a couple of months he was sacked and replaced by Antonio Conte.

Given Conte’s clear strategy, it is evident that Dele could never fit into his style of play. With his typical formation, Conte requires a pair of central midfielders who play more from deep, are focused on immediately winning the ball after losing it and putting constant pressure on the opponent.

Alli’s position simply doesn’t exist in Conte’s game and so over time he hasn’t even been able to get on the substitutes’ bench. His departure was inevitable. Dele was subsequently released to Everton completely free of charge.

The London outfit were to receive a certain amount of money if Alli played at least 20 games. This did not happen and so Spurs own only 20% of the rights to any future profits from his sale or loan spell.

He doesn’t shine in Turkey either

At the moment the Englishman is trying his luck in Turkey, where he is not doing well at all. He hasn’t even played 10 games for Besiktas so far. In a cup match against a team from the third league, he was even substituted before half an hour of play when his team was two goals down.

Recently, there have even been reports that Besiktas want to get rid of him and bring him back to Everton. However, he is not interested in him. This puts Dele in an interesting situation where even his parent club is not interested in him.

Dele is still only 26 years old. He still has plenty of time for a possible reboot, or at least a career revival. The question is whether he is even interested in doing it himself.

Source: Tottenham Hotspur, Transfermarkt, Everton FC