Dele Alli transfer verdict emerges as Everton look to negotiate Tottenham deal
Dean Jones has suggested that Dele Alli could be the “difference maker” in negotiations between Everton and Tottenham over potential add-ons.
It has been reported that the Toffees will need to pay £10million to Spurs, should the midfielder reach 20 appearances for the Blues and as Dele works his way back to full fitness Sean Dyche has revealed Everton are looking into the possibility of renegotiating the deal with Tottenham [Daily Mirror, 23 September].
Since making the switch to Goodison Park midway through the 2021/22 campaign, Dele has only appeared on 14 occasions for the Toffees and Jones has suggested that the deal could be altered given the desire of the entire football community to see the midfielder back to his best.
Speaking to Give Me Sport on Sunday (1 October) he said: “If they can renegotiate the terms, it definitely gives him more opportunity to be reintegrated and also to recapture his form and confidence. So, on a personal level, I would love to see it happen.
“I’d love to see a way that the two clubs could make it happen. But at the end of the day, money is always what it is decided by and football clubs are looked at as businesses and players are looked at as assets and unfortunately, there’s not usually much room for sentiment around that.
“I’d like to think that Dele could be a difference-maker in that sense. I’d like to think that everybody just wants to see the guy get back on his feet and playing football again. But I’m always pessimistic about those things, unfortunately.”
Pessimistic
It’s hard to see any reason for Tottenham to agree to renegotiate the deal to help Everton out of a financial hole as although everyone in football would like to see Dele back to his best, from a business perspective it would only negatively affect Spurs.
Everton must have expected Dele to play at least 20 times for them having joined the ranks under Frank Lampard and if they weren’t financially equipped to complete the deal, they shouldn’t have signed it and this whole situation could have been avoided.
While the looming £10million fee is in place, it seems incredibly unlikely that Dyche will be able to reintegrate the former England international back into his first-team squad, as until 777 Partners’ takeover is completed, the Toffees are unlikely to want to pay the cash to foot the bill.
All in all this transfer and its subsequent add-ons represent everything that is currently wrong at Goodison Park from top to bottom and as much as it would be excellent for all parties to agree to waive the £10million fee, Jones’ pessimistic verdict does feel like the most probable option.
In other Everton news, Sean Dyche has explained what the subject of his talks with 777 Partners has been so far