Why this show of aggression sent Alli’s career off course
⮞once a key man for Spurs and England, midfielder is in wilderness and should seek fresh start at new club
It is two years and five months since Dele Alli earned the last of his 37 international caps, playing the full 90 minutes and extra time as England beat Switzerland on penalties to finish third in the inaugural Uefa Nations League.
Since then there have been 33 England fixtures, and Alli, such a key player in the run to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018, has not played a single minute. In fact, the 25-year-old is no longer even under consideration as Gareth Southgate almost skips a generation to include the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Conor Gallagher, both 21, in his squad. When he first omitted Alli, Southgate said it was because his “season has not really got going” and, as time has passed, that phrase still applies.
Once more Alli’s season has not got going despite the fact he started in Tottenham’s first six league games – only one short of his total during the previous campaign. During that period, he did not create a single chance and it finally came to an end when he was hooked at half-time during the capitulation against Arsenal.
Alli has scored just two league goals since January 2020 – both penalties – while there is almost a passive acceptance that he is just not the player he was, one Pep Guardiola singled out as “one of the most fantastic footballers I have ever seen in my life”. It is that passivity that may, also, be at the heart of Alli’s decline.
Indeed, some trace the start of it back to an incident five years ago, when Alli received a three-match ban for violent conduct after a sly off-the-ball punch on West Bromwich Albion midfielder Claudio Yacob. That incident caused an outcry, with accusations that he was in danger of going off the rails and needed to curb a nasty streak.
It ended Alli’s involvement in Spurs’ title challenge, which soon petered away, and followed incidents in which the Young Footballer of the Year threw a ball in the face of Sunderland defender Patrick van Aanholt, caught Crystal
Palace’s Yohan Cabaye with a late challenge and appeared to drag his feet over Fiorentina defender Nenad Tomovic.
But that was an essential part of him, a fearless street footballer whose greatest attribute was his unwillingness to conform. That touch of devilry gave him an edge. There was an endearing cheek to Alli that first emerged when he broke through at MK Dons aged 16 and did not give a damn whose reputation he ruffled. The pitch was his playground.
But maybe that Yacob incident affected him, or at least affected how he wanted to be perceived. This was a young player who – not unreasonably – was probably starting to buy into his own hype, and was conscious of the need to be a marketable footballer, as well as a successful one.
Not everyone was piling on opprobrium. Before Euro 2016, former Spurs midfielder turned pundit Jermaine Jenas said: “What shall we do about Dele’s temperament? Nothing at all. Leave him alone. Let him be the player he wants to be.”
Ultimately, Alli himself decided to change. His goal return in the following two seasons may have been impressive – 23 in 2016-17 and 15 the year after, including a spectacular performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League – but that aggressive edge has undoubtedly been dulled.
Throw in off-field issues, some stupid behaviour and alleged distractions – it has been suggested Alli does not always surround himself with the best influences, leading to a party-boy reputation – and his fall from grace feels less surprising. That was compounded by public rebukes from Jose Mourinho in Amazon Prime’s All or Nothing, when the manager suggested Alli was lazy and lacked motivation, and the more private concerns of his predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino, at the tail end of his time at Spurs.
Now Alli is under Antonio Conte’s tutelage and he can expect more tough love. History suggests it is not what he needs and maybe the best thing for all parties is, as appears likely, a move, possibly as early as January. Certainly Alli was left upset that a loan to Paris St-germain was vetoed by chairman Daniel Levy in the summer of 2020, although he cannot expect the same calibre of club to come calling again.
The obvious move is to be at the vanguard of the revolution at Newcastle United, even if Spurs may be reluctant to sanction it.
Either way Alli needs a reset, a fresh start. There have been injuries that have affected him, and it was worrying that two years ago he complained his body “can’t do what it used to” following hamstring problems, but he has to rediscover that little bit of mischief that once made him such a precocious competitor.