Dele Alli thanked by Antonio Conte after deadline day move to Everton
Dele Alli completed a dramatic deadline day transfer to Everton from Tottenham Hotspur to round off a hectic January for the club.
The 25-year-old joined the Toffees in a deal that could raise to nearly £40million depending on his success at Goodison Park.
His two and a half year deal takes him to the end of the 2023-24 season by which he will hope to have found his mojo again and be starring week in, week out.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte has thanked Alli for their brief time together in North London but maintained it was the right move for both parties.
“I think it was a good decision on both sides, for the club and the player,” Conte said in his press conference, “I think Dele needed to have another experience.
“He’s a good guy and, for sure, I want to tell him thanks for the time that we worked together.”
No glimmer
Alli burst onto the scene at Milton Keynes Dons before emerging as one of the country’s hottest young talents when he joined Spurs in 2015.
He was very quickly called up to the England side and a goal on his debut against France seemed to suggest he would keep going on this remarkablepath.
But since these peaks, he has slowly regressed as a footballer and his chances at Spurs deteriorated to the point he was rarely brought off the bench if selected at all.
Now though he can prove to everyone that there is still a flicker of hope and Frank Lampard might be the man who can strike the match and reignite the fire within Alli and get him back to his show-stopping best.
It won’t start in the FA Cup this weekend however as he played for his former club against Morecambe in round three.
He will have to wait until midweek when Newcastle is the Toffees’ destination in a crucial Premier League encounter.
In other Everton news, this midfield star may have a longer Everton future than first thought after the latest developments elsewhere.