Sky Sports pundit hopes Everton exit for Dele Alli is the answer after Tottenham ordeal
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
It was “definitely” not a mistake for Everton to sign Dele Alli and nobody at the club will wish him any “ill will” as he leaves, says Kevin Campbell.
The one-time England star looks set to end his stay at Goodison Park after just seven months with a loan-to-buy move to Besiktas in Turkey now on the cards, after arriving as one of Frank Lampard’s quick-fire deadline day signings in January.
He showed the occasional flash of his quality last season as the club battled relegation although he frequently didn’t make the team, and Sky Sports pundit Campbell believes the 26-year-old may benefit from leaving the country for now in order to get over his time under Jose Mourinho at Tottenham which “affected him tremendously”, but that it was the right idea for Everton to sign him in the first place.
Speaking exclusively to Goodison News he said: “A mistake? You could look at it [that way] but you don’t know. Signing players, and signing Dele Alli, you don’t know the full mentality of what was going on with him, how things transpired at Spurs that really broke him.
“Because that’s what’s happened. You’re talking about signing a full England international, he’s played in World Cups for England, he’s scored goals for England.
“So is it a mistake to sign him? It isn’t. It definitely isn’t a mistake to sign him.
“What’s happened to him under the [Jose] Mourinho regime at Spurs has obviously had some serious mental issues that have affected him tremendously.
“Now I know Frank Lampard obviously brought him in. He did make a difference, especially in that Crystal Palace game.
“But it was a matter of get a preseason under his belt and get him finding his feet. But maybe, maybe, Dele just needs a clean break from the country.
“Maybe that’s what he needs. So sometimes you have to hold your hand up. You can call it a mistake, of course you can, but sometimes you have to take into consideration the player as well, and his mental state.
“I think that if the Besiktas deal happens I don’t think anybody at Goodison will wish Dele Alli any ill will, I think they’ll wish him all the best.
“Obviously he just didn’t quite work out for what ever reason at Goodison Park.
“There were certain milestones he had to hit playing-wise for the price to go up, and as he hasn’t hit that then obviously it’s one of those things, if you can then move him on, he’s happy, the club’s happy, then that’s what you do.”
Dele has been a lightning rod for criticism about his clothes, car, attitude, commitment, and any other thing that can be thrown at him, but ultimately only the player and those closest to him will know the real reason for the process that saw him go from Premier League star to virtual afterthought.
Much has been made in recent days of the clip from the Spurs series of the Amazon documentary All or Nothing, where Mourinho warns the midfielder that he will have regrets later in life, and while it may have been hamstring injuries that knocked him down from his peak under Mauricio Pochettino it appears to have been the 2020/21 season with the Portuguese that he has never recovered from.
Whether that is the manager’s fault, whether there are psychological struggles, or whether Dele’s love for the game was simply lost at that time, is all speculation, but he is clearly not the player he once was and the opportunity to work under a fellow goalscoring midfielder at Everton in Lampard hasn’t paid off, so the hope has to be that a move to Turkey can be instead.