Noel Whelan reckons it is time for Tottenham to cut Dele Alli loose and allow him to leave the club.
Alli has been on a steady decline since 2019 and has failed to deliver under the last two Spurs managers.
After losing his place in the team under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo gave Alli several chances to return to form, he didn’t take them.
He will get another set of chances under Antonio Conte, but confidence is low that he will get back to his best.
Former Leeds United striker, Whelan knows more chances would come Alli’s way, but he insists the key thing is for the midfielder to take them.
However, he also admits that Alli has gotten a fair share of playing opportunities and should already be back to form.
His failure to take his chance might be a sign that he has to leave, perhaps he would get better while playing for another club.
“It’s up to Dele Alli – he has to put the hard work in now to rekindle his career and produce the quality we know he has,” he told Football Insider.
“Managers have come and gone and tried to bring out the Dele of old, it hasn’t worked. Everyone plays off a clean slate when a new manager comes in.
“He will be given the opportunity, but he just has to grasp it.
“I think it’s time to let him go – either in January or the end of the season because he’s had a number of opportunities now.
“It’s starting to feel a little bit like Groundhog Day. It’s entirely up to him to show the effort to try and reclaim his place in this side.”
Alli was one of Tottenham fans’ most-loved players and most of us watched him display incredible skills and talent at the start of his time at the club.
It has been hard to watch him decline every season, but the most important entity is the club.
Players will come and go, but the club remains and this might be the best time for him to leave.
Although some of us are emotionally attached to the England international, there is no use keeping him at the club if he won’t make a telling contribution to the team.
Yeah I remember that in 2016 the flickers of skill occasional come off. But his most consistent contributions are late runs into the box etc and that comes from plays learnt on the training pitch repeated and repeated again.
He has natural skill alright. His overhead flick and volley against palace was sublime. You can’t teach that.
Dele isn’t as naturally skillful as you think, he is a player coached to perform in a certain way. Over coaching him is the way to get him into some form.
Tata Dele..he needs a new challenge ..and he hasn’t been any good for us for over 2 seasons. Too comfortable by half.
Loping out of nowhere to put the ball into the back of Chelsea net. Joy to behold. But he needed some service, think he misses Eriksen more than most. Time for a move is probably right, maybe in fact overdue.
Dele was too good for to long to be dud, however I do agree he is struggling to be anything like what he was and will he get back there at Spurs maybe not, but I truly believe there is a very talented player still there
I do agree he needs to move on to have any chance
We are on the cusp with the homegrown rule. If any English or homegrown player leaves then they have to be replaced. Dele Davies Winks Doherty etc.. Dier is foreign though..English players don’t come cheap. Players like Declen Rice and Calvin Phillips would be an upgrade on ours but they would cost loads and clubs are likely to reject advances too.
Any conversation about Dele is one of futility. Pundits who find it necessary to fashion daily regurating of Alli cannot be taken too serious. There are nothing that has not been said about the precipitous fall, yet in the vast world of football our “experts” find it productive to mention Dele at every breathe. He may be in a larger conversation, but why, he is just a waste of talent right now. Click click
Put him out of his misery and move him on