YOU DON’T WANT PLAYERS TO WALK ALL OVER YOU . . . I’VE HAD TO LOOK AFTER MYSELF
DELE ALLI SPEAKS TO MATT LAWTON
‘I learned so much from playing in League One’
ARARE interview with Dele Alli plays out like a microcosm of his career thus far, not least because he leaves you wondering why it has taken him this long to appear at an England media day.
Initially he does try to give the impression that he’s a little nervous, expressing surprise at the number of journalists squeezed on to a horseshoe-shaped sofa in the sports hall at St George’s Park. It’s about a dozen.
But he quickly reveals himself to be as comfortable in this environment as he was when he first appeared in the Premier League and then, in no time at all, on the international stage.
Alli certainly comes across as an engaging, articulate young man. And if there is a rather volatile streak that reveals itself occasionally in the heat of battle, this precociously gifted 21-year-old footballer also seems to have his head screwed on.
His relatively late arrival at a top club — he was 18 when he signed for Tottenham from MK Dons — is one he reflects on with great maturity and intelligence. Alli explains that he resisted earlier advances because he thought it more prudent to continue his apprenticeship in the rough and tumble of League One.
‘I didn’t want to rush into anything,’ he said. ‘I was still really young so I knew I had time to develop and I just felt, for my personal development, that I had a great opportunity there to try to break into the first team.
‘I learned so much from playing in League One from such a young age (he was 16 when he made his MK Dons first-team debut).
‘The players I was with there helped me to improve every day in training, so I wasn’t in a rush to leave. Instead I wanted to make sure the time was right. When I joined Tottenham I thought the time was right.’
There were offers to leave Milton Keynes prior to his transfer to Tottenham. Liverpool and Newcastle were understood to be among his suitors. But his response, he says, was a cautious, unemotional one.
‘If there were offers, I didn’t really want to hear about it unless it was really serious,’ he says. ‘And then I would speak to my family and see if it was the right time. I said when I joined Tottenham I thought I had done all I could at MK and it was time for me to step on and try to test myself in the Premier League.
‘Even when I signed for Tottenham, there was talk of me going out on loan and stuff, but I knew when I joined them that I was ready and I wanted to fight for my place. Thankfully I’ve got the opportunity.’
His rise has nevertheless been rapid. He was named by Roy Hodgson in the England squad on October 1 2015, having made his first start for Tottenham only 18 days earlier.
Had the speed of his progression surprised even him? ‘I heard someone say this about something else — that it’s unbelievable, yet believable at the same time,’ says Alli.
‘When it’s happening, there are moments when you can’t believe it. But then you think, “I’ve worked so hard for so long and I’ve made decisions, so it is believable”.
‘I wasn’t expecting it to happen that quickly, but you can’t wait for time. When you get chucked in at the deep end, you have to make sure you take the chances and I’m thankful for everything that has happened so far.’
Alli strikes a nice balance between modesty and self-confidence. He talks about the need to improve in different areas of his game and the fact that his second season in the top flight proved tougher because ‘ opponents started to recognise me a bit more . . . I had to change my game a little bit’.
He expresses his admiration for Steven Gerrard. It was his ‘talent and hunger’ that he particularly liked. But he gives a calm, considered response to the first mention of that — at times — hot temper, and the incidents that prompted his manager Mauricio Pochettino to describe him as ‘naughty’.
‘I know there are mixed opinions about it but that’s the player I am and it’s been in my game ever since I was a youngster,’ he says. ‘It’s not something I am looking to change to be honest. Obviously I
‘I’ve made mistakes, bad tackles, but I won’t change’
have made a few mistakes and hopefully you can tell that I have learnt from them but, like I say, it’s not something that I am worried about.
‘After the West Brom game (he was suspended for three games for lashing out at Claudio Yacob) I regretted that straight away. It was one of those moments that I have learnt from and I’ve not done anything like that again. There was also the challenge (on Gent’s Brecht Dejaegere) in the Europa League.
‘I know it looked really bad and it was a really bad tackle but I know, myself, that I would never go out to hurt someone. It was just a poorly timed tackle and I apologised to the guy straight away.
‘To be doing a challenge like that on someone is horrible. Horrible for me as well to think about it. I apologised and felt sorry and I’ve learnt from it, it was a mistake. But maybe if I didn’t have that in my game I wouldn’t have achieved as much as I have done so far at this age.
‘Like I say, I am going to keep doing what I do and keep looking to improve. You have to make mistakes to learn from them and I have learnt from every one so far.’
He admits he has been learning these lessons for a good while now, recalling being sent to the ‘sin bin’ as a 13-year-old by his then coach at MK Dons, Dan Micciche.
One of the issues then, he explains, was that he ‘wasn’t as physically strong as other boys at that age’, and would perhaps respond too aggressively to being bullied on the pitch.
Even now he seems almost too slightly built to hold his own, those long, skinny limbs giving him the appearance of a distance runner rather than a destructive No 10.
Alli actually smiles at the comparison, claiming to have been pretty good at cross-country at school. He also insists, however, that he is heavier than he looks. At 6ft 2in, he says he weighs 80kg (12st 8lb).
His physiology has nevertheless provided him with a great engine while being relatively light has forced him to develop the skills that are so central to his game.
‘There’s so many strong people around and you have to think a lot more about what you’re doing,’ he says. ‘You don’t want to get too close (to a physically imposing defender) because they’re more than likely going to push you off the ball, so you have to be a bit more clever in possession.’
In that sense League One was a tough school but one Alli enjoyed.
‘I’ve had to look after myself for a long time in the football world,’ he says. ‘You don’t want players to think they can walk all over you. It’s important you stand your ground.
‘But it’s also important that you enjoy playing football. If you do that, whatever challenge comes your way you will be ready for and raring to go.’
Today it is Scotland in a World Cup qualifier. Tomorrow, who knows? Alli remains on such a sharp trajectory anything would appear possible.
One reporter asks him if he can see himself playing abroad, and the answer again reveals him to be wise beyond his years.
‘I think people get too worried about where they are going to end up, lose focus on the journey and don’t enjoy it,’ he says. ‘I’m signed for Tottenham. Who knows where I am going to end up but right now I am enjoying the journey I’m on.’