Dele Alli may never play for Everton again in Goodison Park update
Dean Jones has claimed Everton ace Dele Alli may never play again after suffering yet another injury setback in his bid to return to the first-team setup at Goodison Park.
The latest update on Alli’s injury was that he has required surgery to treat a reoccurring groin injury, with no timescale placed on his recovery by Sean Dyche, although he said the early signs were good.
In a message to fans on New Year’s Eve, Alli revealed that he had suffered another setback but would work hard to make a return, just as it seemed he might finally be over the worst of his issues, in a crushing blow.
Jones was speaking to Give Me Sport [8 February] as he shared: “I don’t know that we’ll ever see Dele pull on an Everton shirt again. The longer time drags on, you wonder will he ever pull on a shirt of any type again.
“There’s no timescale on this injury. It’s another setback. He did his chat with Gary Neville and the documentary came out around him, and he revealed all the reasons as to the difficulties that were going on in the background and his life that none of us would really have understood before that moment.”
Will Dele Alli ever play for Everton?
Two years on from Alli’s arrival at Goodison Park, when Frank Lampard was still in charge and full of optimism that he could help the midfielder to rediscover his best form, who would have guessed he’d only have made 13 appearances for the club?
Just as there had been some hope that Alli would finally make his return to Goodison Park after everything that he has gone through in his personal life, as explained on The Overlap with Gary Neville [13 July], this will be yet another kick in the teeth for the midfielder.
The suggestion that he could retire as a result of his constant injury issues is a sad one, and the idea of any player being forced to retire at just 27 years old is not the type of thing you want to hear.
However, it will undoubtedly have crossed his mind at some point. It gets to a stage where every time you approach a comeback something happens and you’re right back to square one.
It is important to be optimistic though. The club certainly have been during his recovery, and the man himself seems to be focused and committed to a return, as he shared in his message: “I’ll be out again for a short while but my outlook and mentality is nothing but positive.”
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