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| Dele Alli of Everton is challenged by Ngolo Kante of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Chelsea FC at Goodison Park on August 06, 2022 in Liverpool, England. |
Everton had
used some very creative accounting and flexible payment package to bring in
Dele Alli from Tottenham a day after Frank Lampard was announced as the
new Toffees manager during the January transfer window,
but the former England international has flattered to deceive and now the Blues
have a team to take him off their hands too, on loan at least.
Dele had moved to
Merseyside on what was virtually a free transfer with Everton paying nothing
upfront, but escalators in the terms with Spurs mean the Blues will have to
make a £10 million payment when player makes 20 appearances - he is currently
on 13 across last season and this one.
If the 26-year-old
hit every single performance-related clause built into the sale, then Everton
would have to pay Tottenham up to £40m, though reliable sources seemed to indicate that
some of those were quite unrealistic especially with how the Toffees have been
playing in 2022.
Everton are yet to
replace Richarlison after his sale to Spurs this summer, and with Dominic
Calvert-Lewin injured for a few more weeks, the Blues are desperate to sign a
striker, In just the last couple of days news has broken that Chelsea are
lining up a big offer for Anthony Gordon in the £40-50m range while the Toffees
still don’t have any more strikers in the squad aside from veteran Salomon
Rondon. The Blues do not have many creative forces left in the squad especially
after the departures of James Rodriguez and Gylfi Sigurdsson, and losing Dele
would certainly make that part of their game more barren.
Dele appeared to
shine in the pre-season in the ‘False 9’ role but is yet to get a chance in
that position after two games this campaign, and now Turkish side Besiktas are
reportedly interested in taking him off the Toffees’ hands [The Athletic]. Turkish teams in general
don’t spend big money so if this is only a loan move it doesn’t necessarily
help the Blues - Cenk Tosun’s impending return to Besiktas was a good example
of this, with the striker only finally going back after his contract here expired.
He has failed to
establish himself under Frank Lampard who has only used him sparingly. Dele is
yet to score in a competitive game but has made some important contributions
late on in games, including creating a couple of goals in that epic comeback
game against Crystal Palace to stave off relegation last season.
The paywalled
article doesn’t indicate how much they would be willing to pay the Blues and
quite how the finances would be sorted out between Everton and Tottenham if the
sale did go through. David Ornstein is a very reliable reporter however and he
goes on to say that the club has left it up to Dele to choose what he would
like to do.
