Dele Alli behind-scenes plans shelved at Everton after latest injury developments
Everton have had to postpone their plan to arrange training matches for Dele Alli to feature in after the midfielder suffered an injury set back, Paul Joyce reports.
According to the Times journalist on the paper’s website on 3 October those attempts have been put on the back burner as the 28-year-old’s 19 month push to return to full fitness has been prolonged.
Dele continues to use the club’s training facilities and benefit from their “medical expertise” despite his contract at Goodison Park expiring in the summer.
His last game was on loan at Besiktas on February 2023, while the last of his 13 Toffees appearances was on August of 2022, and Sean Dyche admits it has been a “very challenging” period as he revealed the new “muscle strain”.
Sean Dyche reveals Everton injury set back
From a purely footballing stand point Dele’s fitness struggles had already made his situation an ordeal, and since he spoke publicly about his mental health and addiction struggles [The Overlap] it has been clear the size of the task is even greater.
Progress has evidently been slow but the intent on both sides appears to be there, especially since Everton took the time to renegotiate their original agreement with Tottenham in order to make it financially viable to bring him back [The Athletic, 16 July].
Dyche reportedly has an eye on reviving Dele’s career in a similar way to how Dominic Calvert-Lewin returned from endless fitness issues under his management [Liverpool Echo, 12 July], but he isn’t quite there.
The manager indicated the set back isn’t a serious one but if the training matches haven’t even been set up yet it doesn’t look like a possible contract is particularly close.
From a practical perspective it therefore makes sense not to consider the ex-England international as a potential factor for the foreseeable future, and if he makes enough progress it will be a bonus all round.
There is space in the squad to register him as things stand [The Athletic, 14 September] but it doesn’t seem like that is likely any time soon.
At his best he would be an obvious asset for this Toffees side but expectations may need to be tempered when the return everyone would like may ultimately not prove possible.
In other Everton news, a PSR update has emerged with the Toffees expected to have “wiggle room” in the January transfer window with Dan Friedkin in charge.
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