Besiktas chief shares new Dele Alli verdict as Everton loanee ‘stopped fighting’ amid £86m claim
Dele Alli “stopped fighting” for the Besiktas shirt during his loan spell from Everton, according to the Turkish club‘s sporting director Ceyhun Kazanci.
Alli made the temporary switch to Turkey last summer, having only joined the Toffees in January 2022.
But the midfielder returned to Merseyside earlier this year, with his loan spell at Besiktas coming to an abrupt end after a difficult period for the player.
“The expectations from the fans were really high; when you think of a player like Dele who once had a €100million (£86million) valuation, then they expect a lot of goals and assists, but it is not easy because the Turkish league is difficult,” Kazanci told The Guardian.
“Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it. The more he couldn’t score or contribute, the more the pressure went up, and the fans started to boo him and his reaction was not as we expected.
“We thought he would be more reactive to what was going on and work harder, fight for the team but he could not. The coach decided to use other players that will continue with us next season and he stopped maybe fighting for his shirt.”
Miserable time
Loan spells don’t always go to plan, and that was absolutely the case for the Everton man at Besiktas.
Alli really didn’t seem to get on well with his temporary club, with the midfielder forced to head home early after various struggles in Turkey.
It is undoubtedly a tricky place to be when you’re essentially on your own as a player, but Alli hasn’t exactly blended in well at Everton either, with his Goodison Park future very uncertain.
Current Toffees boss Sean Dyche wasn’t the man to bring the midfielder in from Tottenham, with that issue perhaps set to play a key factor in Alli’s playing time at the club next season, if indeed he hasn’t been moved on before then.
There are plenty out there who believe the former England international can get back to his very best, but others will be sceptical and predict that the player everyone knows is there will fail to come back.