Dele Alli may have already played his last game for Everton despite Sean Dyche’s words of wisdom to the struggling midfielder after he returned to the club. Alli is back at Goodison Park after cutting short his loan spell with Turkish club Besiktas to undergo surgery on his knee, with reports also surfacing in recent weeks about the former Tottenham flop’s behaviour away from the pitch.
The 27-year-old was pictured with a balloon in his mouth while surrounded by canisters and alcohol in a Salford apartment. Alli was pictured with a group of people sitting at a table littered with canisters, which appeared to contain nitrous oxide.
The 37-cap England international has experienced a sharp decline over the past three seasons and joined Everton in January 2022 after being granted a free transfer by Tottenham.
As part of the agreement, the Toffees were understood to have to agreed to pay bonuses up to £40million conditioned upon certain clauses and milestones being met.
Alli has only played 13 times for the club after joining the club and was shipped out on loan in August after a poor run of form under former boss Frank Lampard. Under the terms of his deal, Everton must pay £10m to Spurs if he plays in 20 matches and that now looks unlikely to happen.
When asked about Alli’s plight, Dyche said last week: “You can only guide people with what you think is good for them. Eventually players have choices, so we recommend they make good choices. But behind that, he’s factually injured. He’s come back with a proper injury that’s going to take some time to get sorted out, so he’ll use that period wisely, I hope.”
Even if the former Burnley boss has seemingly not closed the door on Alli playing for the club again, it is a matter that could be taken out of his hands. The attacking midfielder, who cannot play for Everton this season anyway due to FIFA registration rules, would not be regarded as important enough to risk paying such a hefty fee for seven more appearances.
As it stands, the club have more important issues to contend with as they are in the midst of an eight-team relegation battle. Dyche’s men could drop into the bottom three depending on the result in Nottingham Forest’s clash with Manchester United on Sunday after losing 3-1 at home to Fulham.
If the club were to be relegated to the Championship, it would be more logical to assume the club would try to offload Alli, who is thought to earn £100,000-a-week and has a contract until 2025, than pay any more money to Spurs. However, a return to Besiktas looks unlikely after he fell out with boss Senol Gunes.
And if there are no clubs willing to hand him a chance to resurrect his car, they could decide to keep him in the stands even when he returns from injury, as his career takes another turn for the worse.
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