Everton have been suggested as a potential destination for Spurs star Dele Alli in this January transfer window.
What’s the story?
Speaking on The Athletic’s The View from The Lane podcast, Jack Pitt-Brooke revealed that the England ace’s name had been linked with a switch to Rafa Benitez’s side this month.
He said: “Spurs had been hoping for a while that Newcastle would want Dele this month, but I gather that’s not the case. It’s been suggested to me that maybe Everton are considering coming in for Dele towards the end of the month, but as far as I’m aware there’s been no movement on that.”
Could revive his career at Everton
The £100k-per-week star has previously been hailed as a “freak of a talent” by former Spurs man Darren Anderton, while Mauricio Pochettino even made some quite incredible comparisons between Alli and the likes of Diego Maradona and Ronaldinho.
He said: “You smell Maradona’s energy, his charisma is amazing. Ronaldinho at Paris Saint-Germain was similar. And it’s similar with Dele. People love him in this way. When you add the charisma to the talent, that’s what makes a special player. When he was scoring goals, kids loved him like he was Ronaldinho.
“Kids feel this charisma, this energy, and with Dele it’s the same; he has this charisma that kids love and follow.”What Alli hasn’t had in recent seasons, especially with Pochettino’s exit, is consistent game-time and perhaps that trust he had with the Argentine.This campaign has seen him play just 657 minutes of Premier League football, featuring heavily under Nuno Espirito Santo to begin the season and then completely dropping out of favour under Antonio Conte.While Everton fans may look to his recent record and consider this a potentially underwhelming signing, his previous history and the fact he’s still only 25, could see him revive his career at Goodison Park.At his absolute best, Alli is a goal-scoring midfielder who can win games, and his still impressive record of 67 goals and 61 assists in 269 games for Spurs is a testament to that.If the Toffees do land him later this January, then it could be an exciting one for fans.Meanwhile, Benitez could form a deadly duo with this Serie A star…