Harry Redknapp has urged Dele Alli to ignore all distractions around him and get his head down and concentrate on his football.
The former MK Dons man has now fallen out of favour at Tottenham with Jose Mourinho leaving him out of most games that Tottenham play in.
The attacking midfielder was one of the first names on the team sheet from the time that he broke into the first team in 2015.
He had also been one of the trusted players when Mourinho first became the club’s manager.
However, after his lacklustre performance in Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to Everton in the opening Premier League game of the season, the Englishman has consistently been dropped.
His performance level hasn’t been good enough, claims Mourinho and Redknapp has now said the Englishman needs to concentrate on his football and get his career back on track.
He claimed that Mourinho works with him every day and he sees if the Englishman is doing enough to play or not.
“He’s got to be careful,” he said on Talksport.
“He is maybe at a little bit of crossroads at the moment.
“Who knows what goes on behind closed?
“Jose sees him every day. There’s obviously something he don’t like that’s going on there and that’s why he’s dropped him out of the squad.
“Whatever it is, I think Dele needs to get back to the player we know he can be.
“He needs to get his head down, concentrate on his football because when he’s playing well he’s a fantastic player.”
There is definitely room for Dele within this squad and he has traveled for tomorrow nights game.With Five subs allowed hopefully he will get some mins and prove his worth to the team.
There’ll always be a taker for someone of Dele’s ability, which is a problem as he might prefer the easy option of bailing to another club rather than doing the hard work to regain his Spurs first team place. I’d prefer he shows that talent in a Spurs shirt.
This advice, although correct, is 3 years too late. Dele hasn’t improved in this time and although he has some admirable achievements; 2 time winner of YPoY (only Giggs, Fowler and Rooney have done that), England international and WC semi finalist, EPL and Ch Lg runner up, as well as having more money than Davey Crockett, he has become a bit of a cliche. Fans have seen bright, young talents come and go, but what I cannot take is the fact that no footballer should be better at 20 than 24 yrs old. I don’t know where his motivation lies, but it cannot be fully aimed at football, as Redknapp states. However, this is not new news.
As much as I hate to agree with Harry Redknapp on this, cliches aside, he’s right. Dele definitely needs to get his eyes off Ruby Mae’s garden of wonders, jettison some of the cling-ons from the Dele Alli gravy train and focus on football. He has to want to be a professional footballer not a footballing wannabe.
The problem with Ali is his character more than his football ability. I would have hoped that with all the new arrivals and the sense of renewed belief that is apparent within the squad that Ali would have shown a resurgence and a desire to fight his way back into the team. However he still seems to have this persona of someone who thinks he is better than what he is and who appears to be sullen and aggrieved that he is no longer a selection for the team. Although it is not his game style I would like to have seen him come on as a sub and at least run about like Lamela does and show some energy and passion.I am leaning towards H’s view that he is toast and should move to another club to try and resurrect his career which is heading down the flusher at an alarming rate.