da bet nacional： Dele Alli was once the next best thing. One chest, flick, swivel and volley cemented the Englishman among some of the best young players in world football. He was putting up numbers that even Steven Gerrard couldn't manage at his age. That's how good he was.
da spicy bet： The key here is past tense, because Alli's career has taken the most unexpected nose dive. Suddenly, the player billed as the next best thing is on course to become the next big wasted potential – perhaps one of the biggest in Premier League history.
After beginning to struggle at Tottenham Hotspur during the ruthless tenure of Jose Mourinho, Alli made the move to Everton back in 2022 in a deal worth a reported £40m. And to say that move hasn't worked out would be a significant understatement.
Things got so bad that Alli was sent on loan to Besiktas. A fresh start away from the pressures of English football, surely this would be the start of a career revival? Think again. The former Spurs man had a season to forget and now returns to Everton under Sean Dyche, having seen his career reach some sort of standstill.
Former manager Mauricio Pochettino is keen to help, however.
What did Mauricio Pochettino say about Dele Alli?
Speaking about Alli's struggles, Pochettino said, via GOAL “I hope to have some time to call and see because he is a great guy and I want to talk a little bit with him and hear. I want to help him and see what is going on with him.
"He is still young. And for sure he has the mentality. Now it’s a long time since I spoke to him but I want to contact him again and see what is going on.”
Talking to the man who helped set the world alight for Alli and his career in the first place may be the perfect way to finally get things back on track, too, even if it is for the benefit of Everton, rather than Pochettino's new club, Chelsea.
At 27 years old, Alli should be playing at his prime right now. And he still has time to reach that level, too. It's simply a case of getting back on track. One thing that is for sure is that Dyche would have himself some player at Goodison Park if the midfielder gets back to his best.
What happened to Dele Alli?
It's difficult to pinpoint the exact moment that things began going so downhill during Alli's career. The failed loan spell at Besiktas was just the cherry on top of a disastrous few years.
The spell went so bad that the Besiktas president criticised Alli, telling beIN Sports: "He was a player we were very excited about when he came. He won't come back. We didn't get what we expected from him. I hope he recovers as a human."
The criticism is warranted when looking back at the Englishman's time in Turkey. In a total of 15 appearances in all competitions, Alli was involved in just three goals. For a player who once took the Premier League by storm to win the PFA Young Player of the Year, those are incredibly poor numbers, which sum up his downfall in recent years.