The Everton midfielder has long been a closed book but the reveal of past troubles kicked open the window to his soulDele Alli smiles, his features soften and there is a nervous little laugh. He does this a lot. It is one of his defence mechanisms, a way of pushing back at all the hurt. He knows that now.Gary Neville is interviewing him for The Overlap and has just asked about his childhood. “I think there were a few incidents that can give you a kind of brief understanding,” Dele says, and there is a pause, an internal struggle – of the type he has wrestled with throughout his life. And then Dele kicks open the window to his soul....
Can a man who rose from a Milton Keynes council estate to a World Cup and a Champions League final be deemed a failure?Dele Alli has moved to Besiktas on loan, where he remains in a critical condition. The Everton midfielder was airlifted to Istanbul on Wednesday night, where he is expected to play in the Turkish Super Lig, a disease widely believed to be incurable. Naturally, everyone at the Guardian sends their best wishes to Dele at this difficult time.OK, but seriously for a minute. How should we think about this? Perhaps the most natural reaction has been to conceive of Alli’s career in terms of loss. On one hand there is a wistful sadness for the player we...
Tottenham midfielder’s talent shone brightly against Real Madrid three years ago – but when Mourinho starts calling you talented you need to worryLast year Sport England announced it would be spending £85m on The Talent Plan For England. The idea behind the Talent Plan is to create “the world’s best talent plan” – a shoot-for-the-moon ambition that becomes more achievable if you accept the rather pedantic objection that a Talent Plan is something you’ve just made up, and thus, technically, nobody else in the world has one anyway.What is certain is that the Talent Plan has a lot to say about talent, so much that its 35-page outline mentions it 258 times in total. This is the big takeaway from...
Maurizio Sarri’s team were left frazzled by the craft of Eriksen, Alli and Son and the return of Spurs’ high pressWith 16 minutes gone at Wembley it was clear the witching hour was at hand. Strange things had already begun to happen. Chelsea’s custard-yellow shirts seemed to be moving through a heavier gravity. Moussa Sissoko had just picked up the ball in midfield and slalomed away from two Chelsea players, legs flailing like a drunken Zidane. No doubt in the rows of suburban houses beyond the glare of the stadium the cats began to bark, the dogs miaowed and the birds flew backwards.At which point, with Tottenham already 1-0 up, David Luiz seemed to wink out of existence completely; to...
Rare goal against Sweden can spur the midfielder to greater heights as England’s World Cup adventure continuesThe hour-mark was approaching when Dele Alli’s moment arrived. England had pinned Sweden deep inside their own territory, patiently sizing up when to deliver the critical pass as teammates manoeuvred themselves into position and flustered opponents sensed impending disaster. It was Jesse Lingard who eventually arced over the cross and there, the wrong side of Emil Krafth at the far post, was Alli to connect sweetly with his header.The midfielder flashed a glance towards the assistant referee for reassurance that there would be no flap of a flag, before out came all those dance routines and intricate handshakes that had been in storage at...