Dele Alli update emerges at Everton ahead of Premier League season
Everton boss Sean Dyche has admitted that attacking midfielder Dele Alli is still miles away from playing a role in the Toffees’ squad, as he continues his recovery from a injury.
The former Tottenham midfielder returned to Goodison Park having spent last season on loan with Besiktas where he made 15 appearances in all competitions before needing hip surgery in April and Dyche has admitted he still is a way away from full fitness.
Dele most recently opened up about his traumatic childhood experience on Gary Neville’s ‘The Overlap’ and admitted that he spent six weeks in a rehabilitation facility in America having suffered from a sleeping pill addiction, but his manager has reinforced he is in a much better place personally.
Speaking in an interview with the Times on Sunday (6 August), Dyche said: “He is still not over his injury yet, he is well in himself but he is not over his injury. We are miles away from that (thinking about a squad role), he is just getting himself right again.
“He is feeling good and now we will be working with him, on top of that, to make sure the injury is right. But it is still going to be a bit of time yet.”
Back stronger
It’s no secret that the world of football is united alongside Dele in the hope that he can reach the level that everyone imagined he would back when he starred alongside Harry Kane in Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team.
It has taken an awful lot of bravery for the now 27-year-old to open up about his past trauma so publically and it has changed a lot of people’s perception of his recent career struggles as they examine his past failings with a less harsh glare.
If Dele can get fully fit, he can be an incredibly influential player in Dyche’s Everton side, with plenty of technically gifted players alongside him and a stronger defence behind, he may well be afforded the freedom to express himself on the ball as we all know he can.
If both he and Dominic Calvert-Lewin can get and remain fit for the majority of the campaign, they could be able to strike up a similar partnership to that which Harry Kane and the England international managed at White Hart Lane.
Hopefully, the miles away that Dyche has said Dele is away from the first team are travelled quicker than most expect and we can see him plying his trade in the Premer League sooner rather than later.
In other Everton news, Dyche has admitted that the Toffees remain ‘active’ in the transfer market