Everton: Sky Sports pundit shocked by bizarre club chief Dele Alli claim that ‘makes no sense’
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…
Kevin Campbell has been left baffled by the claim that Dele Alli could go back to Besiktas if he leaves Everton on a free this summer.
Despite his loan spell in Turkey trailing off and ending in bizarre circumstances as coach Senol Gunes accused the midfielder of going AWOL when he’d apparently had permission from the club, president Ahmet Nur Cebi has suggested the Toffees man could go back on a free in the summer [Daily Mail, 18 April].
But after his move came to an end early and a permanent clause was not activated to keep hold of the 27-year-old Campbell doesn’t understand what the chief at the Vodafone Stadium is saying.
“No I just don’t see it. I don’t know what’s going on,” the Sky Sports pundit exclusively told Goodison News.
“To me that makes no sense.
“He’s not good enough for you now so you’re sending him back, but you’ll sign him on a free in the summer?
“That makes no sense. No sense at all.”
The confused nature of the former England star’s early return to the UK, with surgery on an injury ending his campaign after having lost his place in the team, before more hysteria as he was photographed apparently inhaling laughing gas, makes it hard to determine the terms he left Istanbul on or what happens next.
Even if it was a financial issue that made a permanent signing prohibitive, as Nur Cebi seems to be suggesting, it would appear to be entirely ruled out by Gunes’ treatment of him, with Jason Burt writing in the Telegraph on 28 April that Dele and his representatives were left in “despair” by the manager’s inaccurate public claims.
An Everton future doesn’t seem especially likely at this stage, but a return to Besiktas would be a shock after an up-and-down season that saw a total of 17 appearance in all competitions, and three goals, prior to the strange departure.