Dele Alli’s career has been on an upwards trajectory since his move to Tottenham Hotspur and his performance for England against France has put him amongst the headlines again. He scored a wonderful opening goal and grabbed the man of the match award, which is one of the biggest moments of his career to date. It was a shock to many when Alli was called into the full England squad, but he has shown his quality and is now likely to be travelling to France as part of the Euro 2016 squad, unless something unexpected happens in the coming months.
In the last six months, Alli has gone from playing League One football to being a regular for Spurs and making his England debut. That is a rapid rise to the top of the English game and Tottenham fans will be hoping that he can continue to impress despite his tender age. He is only 19 years old, but it highlights the belief that both Mauricio Pochettino and Roy Hodgson have in the midfielder that he is being considered for both club and country. He has started in the last five league matches for Tottenham and he is making an impact on the side a lot quicker than even he would have expected.
For MK Dons, he was an attacking midfielder as shown by his 16 goals last season, which attracted Tottenham to buy Alli. It was evident that he was too good for League One, but even so, nobody expected him to make the step up to Premier League football as quickly as he has managed. He has featured in all but one of Tottenham’s home matches, with eight of those being as part of the starting eleven. Alli has played a deeper role for his club than he did for MK Dons, but he has still managed to score twice which shows his goalscoring instincts.
He is a complete midfielder, which is why he is already being fast-tracked into the England set up. Alli has the makings of an all around midfielder, capable of defending and making an impact in the final third, as he has shown already for club and country. His pace is central to his game as he can get around the pitch quickly, allowing him to get back when his side is in trouble. His size means that he can be compared to Yaya Toure as some in the media have done in recent months, but his technical ability means that he has also been compared with former England captain Steven Gerrard. He has a brilliant passing range, while his movement in the final third is also exceptional at times.
Dele Alli has a huge future ahead of him and the first few months of the season will have felt unbelievable at times to him as he is now a starter for club and country. It is unknown whether he will remain that long term, but at the moment, he is in a great place and his emergence shows that there is still talent being produced in England. It also shows that the Premier League should continue to look lower down the leagues as there are homegrown players there, who are ready to take the next step and make an impact in the Premier League.
