At 26, a player is usually expected to hit his prime, but that has not been the case for former Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli. Touted as one of the future Ballon d’Or winners, Alli burst onto the scene with Tottenham Hotspur.
Now he finds himself at Besiktas, to the utter disappointment and surprise of the footballing world. The England international is on loan from Everton, and it is about to get worse for him.
Alli enjoyed a successful 7 years at Tottenham after they scouted and signed him from MK Dons in the winter of 2015 at an age of 21. After spending the rest of the season with his boyhood club, he arrived at White Hart Lane, as an unknown to even the Spurs fans.
But in no time, Alli became a ‘Golden Boy’ for the North Londoners, displaying a scintillating form in the Premier League with no prior experience. However, just when he was entering his peak years, Alli experienced a massive downfall and was released by Tottenham in January of this year, after which he joined Everton as a fee agent.
After Everton, Dele Alli now unwanted by Besiktas
They were no empty calls when Dele Alli was hyped as a future star. At just 25 years old, the Milton Keyes-born player had a whopping 128 goal contributions [67 goals & 61 assists] in 269 games for Tottenham.
Moreover, Alli made his debut and represented the England national team at the 2016 EUROs making 4 appearances at the tournament, and also the 2018 FIFA World Cup, featuring 5 times during the Three Lions’ famous run to the semifinals.
Fast forward 2022 FIFA World Cup, Alli was not even in the discussion for a place in the final squad, let alone his national team comeback. The attacking midfielder hasn’t played a single minute for his nation since 2019 when he last featured against Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League.
Just when it was expected to get more interesting for him with his career, a disastrous first half of the 2021/22 season which saw him net a mere 2 goals and provide an assist in 18 games in all competitions for Spurs, was the nail in the coffin.
Tottenham terminated his contract in the winter market, leaving him to find himself a new home. Everton put their bet on the 26-year-old, which again turned out to be an unyielding one as he managed no goal involvements in 13 games. The Toffees too wanted to get rid of the underperforming asset, and Turkish giants Besiktas came calling.
The Super Lig side signed the midfielder on a 12-month loan deal with an option to buy this summer, which runs until the end of this season when he will have another 12 months left on his Everton contract.
However, with just 2 goals in 8 games, the Turkish giants too are unhappy with Dele Alli and are now exploring the options of cutting his loan stay short and deporting him back to Everton.
Moreover, according to Takvim, Besiktas have already identified his replacement in Dia Saba of Sivasspor. The 30-year-old only arrived at Sivasspor this summer and has already impressed with 5 goals and 5 assists in 17 games in all competitions.
As a result, they first want to offload Dele Alli and plan to send him back in January itself. On the other had, Everton too is reportedly uninterested in taking their on-loan player back, and is ready to find him a new suitor. This would be an embarrassing situation for the player who is just 26-years-old, but wanted by none.
This downfall of Alli has to, unfortunately, go down in the history books, as the player went from a World Cup player to a ping pong ball who is just traveling around the globe finding himself a place to settle down.