Like everyone else, I have been extremely impressed with Dele Alli’s performances for Tottenham Hotspur this season.

But I can’t say that I’ve been surprised by his star turns.

I remember in late 2014 hearing former MK Dons boss Karl Robinson discussing his young talent. Robinson enthused about Alli and stated passionately that the sky was the limit for the then League One midfielder.

I had seen bits and pieces of Dele before that interview, but Robinson’s praise and the confidence in his prediction that he was headed for stardom made me inclined to watch more MK Dons highlights and Dele Alli continually stood out.

I was pleased that Tottenham allowed him to stay on at MK Dons for the rest of the 2014-15 season after they signed him on a £5m deal during the 2015 January transfer window. It showed that they wanted to help him flourish as much as possible without too much fuss.

In League One he was a standout player but I wasn’t expecting him to hit the ground running like he did when he arrived in the Premier League in the following summer.

But the young attacking midfielder simply wasn’t phased by the big step up and scored an impressive ten league goals in his debut season. His form was rewarded with a call-up to the England senior set-up and he’d go to France for the 2016 Euros.

This season has seen Dele Alli move up yet another gear. In just nineteen Premier League appearances so far this term, Dele has already equalled his ten goal tally from last season.

In his last five games, the Spurs man has bagged seven strikes and that includes a winning brace over league leaders Chelsea.

On the back of those sublime outings, Dele is seemingly a wanted man.

The English press have linked him with a move to both sides of La Liga’s big two, with a fee of £70m being mentioned.

Some have even suggested that Alli could command around £800k a week if he decided to move to the Chinese Super League.

It must be amazing for a twenty-year old footballer to be one of the most wanted men in football but I hope that Dele Alli decides that the grass isn’t always greener and stays on at Spurs.

Now usually I’m all for young British talent going abroad and broadening their horizons when they are still developing their skills.

But the move has to make sense.

At Tottenham, Alli is already at a big club that are making big strides in the Premier League and he’s a big part of that. They have a young, exciting squad and have a manager in Mauricio Pochettino who will stand by his starlets and let them flourish.

That won’t necessarily happen at Real Madrid or Barcelona. You just have to look at James Rodriguez’s struggles at the Bernabeu to see what could go wrong in Spain.

James was one of the stars of the 2014 World Cup and the Colombian joined Real for a €80m fee on the back of that. Fast forward a two and a half seasons and the twenty-five year old has only made four La Liga starts so far this term.

It can be brutal for players if their face doesn’t fit at sides like Barca or Real.

Now I am not saying that Dele would suffer the same fate as Rodriguez but I just don’t see the hurry to find out.

He’s not the finished product as of yet. He still gets wound up and makes silly decisions during the heat of the battle. The goals are great but an attacking midfielder should also be providing key passes and Alli has only created one assist during this campaign (He was better on that front last term with nine assists).

But that being said you can see why people are comparing him to the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes. If I were Gareth Southgate I’d be building my England side around the energetic middle-man.

I honestly think Alli is better suited staying at White Hart Lane, where he’s buzzing at the moment and where he will be allowed to develop even further.

Then who knows in four or five years time, he might have won some medals with Tottenham and could then look at going abroad.

Posted on January 8th, 2017 by scott
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