DELE’S YOUR WORLD BEATER
GERARD HOULLIER, the former Liverpool manager, says England will win the World Cup by 2026 if Dele Alli can become the Three Lions’ Zinedine Zidane.
Houllier, right, was instrumental to France’s World Cup and European Championship successes, having been the brains behind their state-of-the-art training base at Clairefontaine in the Nineties. Now, five years into the life of St George’s Park, he feels England are getting ready to build on lifting the Under-20 World Cup to win major honours again provided a star emerges to lift them. Alli, he feels, could
be that player. “To me, St George’s Park is a great achievement and you will see the benefit of that in five or 10 years’ time,” said Frenchman Houllier.
“We opened Clairefontaine in 1988 – we won the World Cup in 1998.
“But to win things something you need is to have a good team with an outstanding player. France had Zidane. We haven’t won since he stopped playing.
“Portugal, who with all due respect are a good-to-average side who work hard, are well-organised and have a good coach… and Cristiano Ronaldo.
“That makes a difference.
“For France, Dimitri Payet was just not exceptional enough last summer. Maybe in the future we will have Antoine Griezmann.
“Look at the teams that win. Argentina with Diego Maradona, Portugal with Ronaldo, France with Zidane. You need a player like that.
“Even the Champions League final, Juventus and Real Madrid. Who won? The team that had Ronaldo.
“It’s a collective sport where the individual makes the difference.
“You need a top, top, outstanding player and Alli can be that for England. He’s still young but he’s something special.
“England are on the right track. They are developing proper coaches and proper players and at some point it will pay off.
“But it will only pay off if they find that bright spark who makes it all happen.”