Alex McLeish has predicted Tottenham to cash in on Dele Alli in the upcoming January transfer window.
During an interview with Football Insider, Alex McLeish has offered his thoughts on the situation of Dele Alli. The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has endured a difficult few years at the club, failing to reproduce the performances he had shown early on during his career.
Since the start of the 2020/21 campaign, the playmaker has mustered just a little over 1,000 minutes of Premier League action. He has fallen behind the likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and even Lucas Moura in the pecking order.
Speaking to Football Insider, former Aston Villa manager McLeish has made a bold claim about Tottenham’s stance of Dele Alli, predicting the club to sell the midfielder in January. The club’s chairman Daniel Levy had refused to sell the gifted attacker last summer or the proceeding winter market. The player remained at the club even in the summer despite the evident decline in form.
However, McLeish is certain that the Lilywhites will cash in on Alli in the upcoming transfer window. “Dele Alli, Jose Mourinho didn’t have him as a first choice either. You ask yourself what’s happened to Dele Alli’s form? He was a magnificent, young, up and coming player. Dele had a wee flurry a few months ago. In last week’s game, he wasn’t the same Dele Alli. Certainly not the one we’ve seen over the last three of four years.”
The 62-year-old continued to speak at length about Alli’s recent struggles at Tottenham, adding: “Maybe position-wise, he doesn’t feel he’s able to get the best out of his game. The freedom, the third-man running, the runs into the box – he seems to have lost a wee bit of that. Those kind of technical abilities that he had.”
McLeish ended by suggesting a potential move away from Tottenham. He believes a fresh start can help him revitalise his career while his sale could serve as a financial boost for the club.
“Possibly a move is the best thing for him. These guys maybe have to move on and start again, a fresh start. I’m sure he’d make a lot of money for the club. It might give Nuno the collateral to spend and bring in his type of player. He’s probably got an idea of some players he can bring in. But maybe, at the moment, he’s not able to do that. We’ll see in the January window if Spurs are making some waves,” he added.
Dele Alli is yet to attract any major interest from clubs across Europe so far. However, his fellow creative midfielder in Tanguy Ndombele has had no shortage of suitors, having been linked with a move to Barcelona and Real Madrid. Sevilla, too, have recently registered their interest in the Frenchman.
For coach Nuno Espirito Santo, he could certainly use the departure of these two midfielders. Their potential sale could be useful in helping the Portuguese mastermind land one of the top targets in Paul Onuachu among others.
