The cautionary tale of Dele Alli’s decline from the top of the world to Europe’s ‘retirement home’

It began in January with a request for a recommendation: was it possible, the voice from Goodison Park asked, to rediscover the player who had shown so much promise at Tottenham Hotspur and England? That Spurs were prepared to let Dele leave for free at the age of 25, approaching the peak years of most athletes, should have been telling.

Yet you can understand the temptation: here was a player who was constantly linked with Real Madrid, who Sir Alex Ferguson wanted Manchester United to sign, who had scored the goal that put England into a first World Cup semi-final in three decades less than four years earlier. Back then, the boy from Milton Keynes was turning into a man with the world at his feet.

Despite being told to steer clear, the bargain appeared too tempting to turn down and, on deadline day, the figure from Everton called to say the advice to avoid had been dismissed.

Less than seven months later, as Dele landed in Istanbul before a move to Besiktas and the Turkish Super Lig, often considered a retirement home for Premier League players, the phone rang once more and the mistake was admitted.

Where had it all gone wrong? What had sapped the motivation that had taken Dele to such heights? For here is a story of immense success. A boy born in the rough neighbourhood of Bradwell, and into a birth family who offered little guidance as he fell into the wrong crowd, had risen to become one of England’s greatest prospects. Yet it is the wasted potential that most disappoints those who know him well, and there was no shortage of warnings.

Dele was the first player Jose Mourinho spoke about in the media when appointed Tottenham’s head coach in 2019. Bringing “the real Dele back” was part of his mission and yet, in the privacy of the manager’s office at Tottenham’s Enfield training ground, Mourinho made it clear that the onus lay with the player.

“I am 56 now and yesterday I was 20,” Mourinho told Dele in a paternal tone. “Time flies and I think one day 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 just want to tell you that I think you will regret.

“You should demand more from you. Not me demanding more from you. Not me. Nobody [else]. You. I think you should demand more from you.”

That was what first attracted Tottenham to him. Spurs had always known Dele was not naturally gifted, that his game was based upon a blend of thrills, skills and determination. Stepping up, as he did in Samara to put England into the 2018 World Cup semi-final, was not unusual. Dele scored the two goals against Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in 2017 that prevented them from winning a record 14th Premier League game in a row and struck a year later to give Spurs their first win at Stamford Bridge in 28 years.

Iconic goals, but not the most eye-catching. Lifting the ball over Mile Jedinak’s head and volleying into the corner of Crystal Palace’s net in January 2016, however, remains among the best goals the division has seen. Dele has always been at his best when performing on the edge, a Premier League player operating as if still on the playground.

His nutmegs, both in training and matches, became a running joke at Spurs, Dele’s way of embarrassing those who thought they could get the better of him. The bromance with Eric Dier became well known but Dele was a popular figure in the Tottenham dressing room and one new players naturally gravitated to.

“Dele Alli is Dele Alli because he’s a little bit naughty,” Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham head coach who got the best out of Dele, said in 2016. “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.”

And yet something changed in the second half of 2018. Some at Tottenham believe the start of Dele’s decline tied in with a new pounds 100,000-a-week, six-year contract in October of that year. With a huge, life-changing deal signed, the fire seemed to burn less bright for a player that had been playing for Milton Keynes Dons in League One only three years before. “The timing can’t be a coincidence,” a source said. “There wasn’t so much of the devil in him after that.”

Others believe the rot had already set in. Pochettino began expressing concern as early as 2017. In his book, Brave New World, he said he was worried about Dele sustaining his motivation but also about the people he was surrounding himself with.

That same year, Dele changed his agent from the well-established Rob Segal to his best friend and former MK Dons teammate Harry Hickford, whose family had adopted Dele.

“The danger remains, as is often the case, that he will forget what has got him to this point,” Pochettino wrote. “I have had to repeat [that] to him this season [2016-17]. The other risk is whether those around him know how to treat a top-level professional.”

Whatever the case, Dele had ample opportunities. Senior figures at Spurs asked Mourinho to give him one more chance, that there was a pounds 100 million player still there, but that patience and that potential ultimately eroded.

Nuno Espirito Santo and Conte, the head coaches since, both reached the same conclusion and Frank Lampard, the Everton manager, alluded to a lack of application as he offered Dele only one Premier League start in six months. “For me, full pelt in training is non-negotiable and I think Dele needs, needed, to understand that is important for me and for him,” Lampard said on the eve of this season.

Had Dele made 20 appearances in all competitions Everton would have had to pay Tottenham pounds 10 million, but he leaves for Turkey having fallen seven short. His one-year loan deal with Besiktas contains an option to buy and Dele will earn a pounds 1.85 million salary while in Turkey.

While Dele’s story may well have another chapter to write, for now it offers a cautionary tale to those who follow in his footsteps.

-The Times

Originally published as The cautionary tale of Dele Alli’s decline from the top of the world to Europe’s ‘retirement home’