Paul Merson worried and sad as Dele Alli departs Everton for Turkey
Paul Merson is “sad” to see Dele Alli leave Everton on loan to Besiktas in Turkey and hopes that the midfielder is alright after his “unbelievable” move to Goodison.
The former Tottenham star had fallen down the pecking order in North London and was signed on a bonus-filled deal in the January transfer window, but has only made 13 appearances for the club and is now in the Turkish Super Lig.
There is an option to make the deal permanent for either £6million or £8million depending on when, or if, it is triggered, and Merson fears he may never see the 26-year-old play again now.
In his Daily Star column Merson said of Dele: “He was the next Frank Lampard the way he arrived in the box, there was none of them about. I couldn’t talk highly enough of the kid. I find it a real shame to see him leave the Premier League.
“I don’t like to say too much because you don’t know what’s going on away from the football field but I feel for him. When he went to Everton, I thought that was an unbelievable move that would kickstart his career again.
“Now he’s gone to Turkish football, we’re never going to see him ever again. When do we ever see it on the tele? I really hoped it would work out at Everton but when you’ve got all the money in the world, it becomes harder to stay at the top. I just hope he’s alright because it is a major fall.”
Emotional
The switch to Everton can’t really be said to have paid off in any meaningful sense since he has moved on at least temporarily before playing enough to even trigger the first of the payments to Spurs.
It is undoubtedly disappointing for the Toffees that this is how it has gone, and there won’t be many England fans who aren’t somewhat deflated by the one-time superstar’s regression.
But it isn’t impossible to watch Turkish football and there is still the chance that the player comes back at the end of the season anyway, so Merson may be going slightly overboard.
To be fair to him he does at least seem to have a genuine level of concern for Dele that doesn’t often come across when ex-pros are discussing the former MK Dons man.
It is impossible to know the reasons why Dele isn’t the player he once was, and it is very easy to apportion blame without being privy to all the facts.
Frank Lampard seemed like the right man to get the best out of him as a former goal-scoring midfielder himself, and has suggested focus on training needs to be improve [Guardian].
It seems unlikely that the new Besiktas player was once a training powerhouse and has now completely changed his ways so that is probably not the entire basis of it, although it would likely help him, but he is now in a new environment and perhaps that is what he needs.