Will Dele Alli Ever Recapture His Best Form?

Once regarded as one of the most prodigious talents in the world and at one point considered the midfielder with the highest market price on the planet, the Englishman can’t even make it into a struggling Everton side now.

In fact, he wasn’t even deemed good enough for the Toffees’ squad this term and was sent out on loan instead. It’s a shame to see such a skilled player end up in this situation, but it seems unlikely that he will ever be able to return to the form he once showed.

Nowhere Near the England Squad

Alli was an integral part of Gareth Southgate’s 2018 World Cup squad, and he will have been one of the first players the manager picked for the plane to Russia. The former Tottenham Hotspur man was a key component of the side that made it to the semi-finals, and he scored a memorable goal against Sweden as well.

Fast forward four years, and there was no chance that Alli would be picked for the Qatar World Cup. Southgate has a wealth of attackers at his disposal, and the 26-year-old is nowhere near. England were given a good chance to win their group by bookies this year before a ball was kicked, but there are other bets that tournaments like this encourage people to stake on. Therefore, bookies need to ensure that they have a lot of markets available. The best option these days for this is for

, as they come with prebuilt platforms that have all the fluctuating odds in place and ready to go. That means sites can offer odds on things like first goalscorer, both teams to score, and many other outcomes. 

Alli’s Decline is One of the Worst in History

Alli can’t look at the England squad and feel disappointed, as he will understand he is not at the required level anymore. Under Jose Mourinho at Spurs, it quickly became evident that Alli wasn’t working hard enough. This led him to quickly fall out of favor with the manager. He was later phased out of the team.

Everton gave Alli a chance to

, but he failed to pounce on it. The fact that Frank Lampard allowed him to go out on loan to Beşiktaş shows that there is no room for the player, even in a squad that is struggling. The Turkish club were given the option to buy Alli as well, suggesting that there is no future for the player at Goodison Park.

This is arguably the greatest decline of a top footballer so early in his career in football history, and there are few other cases that can match it. Some players have seen their England hopes dashed due to injury, but few have followed Alli’s trajectory of seemingly losing all the abilities that made him so good a few years ago.

It’s hard to imagine Alli ever getting back to his best, as it feels like he’s been put out

. If Alli wants to knock on the door of the England squad again, he’ll need to be playing at the highest level possible. That means he’ll have to make a huge impact at his current club and hope that Everton decide to recall him. Right now, that seems highly unlikely.