Dele Alli's Everton career remains up in the air after his contract expired

Daniel Feliciano

Fri 4 August 2023 18:10, UK

There has been a lot of talk about what Everton are going to do with Dele Alli this summer after his return from a shocking loan spell at Besiktas.

The attacking midfielder is into the final 12 months of his contract at Goodison Park and looked to be on the brink of an exit earlier this summer, with some reports even suggesting he was considering retirement.

But after his emotional interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap, the former England international said he was enjoying football again and looking forward to the new season whether it as at Everton or elsewhere.

But it now seems as though Sean Dyche may have made his decision on the future of Dele, by handing him his favoured No.20 shirt for the upcoming season.

Dele wore No.36 after signing from Tottenham in his first six months of his spell at the club, before leaving for Besiktas.

But now that he has returned he will take the shirt number he wore and made famous at White Hart Lane, taking over from Neal Maupay who moves to the No.13.

It’s easy to say that we may be looking too much into this, but to take a shirt from one member of the first-team to give to someone who doesn’t have a future at the club would be beyond strange. If it was already vacant, then that might be a different story.

At his best Dele is one of the best goalscoring midfielders this country has seen in a long time, but it’s been a while since we have seen that version of him.

Dyche has a clear gap in the team that could fit him in and if we get a version of Dele that is happy and firing then it could be a masterstroke for Everton to get him back involved.

A new shirt number suggests a clean slate and a fresh start to life at Goodison Park, and fingers crossed we get the old Dele back.

In other Everton news, Michael Owen has made his Everton relegation prediction for the new season.