OPINION
Dele Alli’s form at Tottenham has taken a worrying plunge in the last few months, and talkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino has warned that the London club is yet to get a return on their “huge” investment in the midfielder.
The 23-year-old has not scored since the narrow 2-1 win at Fulham in January and has not been at the races at all in the most of Spurs’ Champions League fixtures this season.
It may be that the former MK Dons midfielder is in need of a rest because he played such a key role for England at the World Cup last summer.
His spot in Tottenham’s starting line-up has been untouchable this season too as when he has not been injured, he has played in basically every game by appearing 35 times across all competitions.
Cascarino does not explain why Alli’s form has been as poor as it has been, but he has claimed that the England international has been a letdown this season and has not shown he’s worth the money he’s being paid.
“At Tottenham Hotspur, Dele Alli has been the biggest disappointment. The England midfielder was poor again against Bournemouth on Saturday and has failed to leave his mark on too many games this season,” Cascarino said on the Times website.
“Huge amounts of money have been invested in Sánchez, Özil and Alli without much return.”
Cascarino does have a point because Alli has not been anywhere near as good for Spurs this season as he has been in the last two campaigns.
You could even suggest that the midfielder has gotten progressively worse in each of his last three years as a Tottenham player.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is not usually the man to splash the cash on transfers or player wages, but he knows how good Alli can be and in October 2018, the midfielder was handed a massive six year deal reportedly worth £150,000-a-week [Mirror].
It is understood that only Harry Kane earns more than Alli at Tottenham, but the out-of-sorts midfielder is yet to show that he is worth anywhere near that much as he has not been Spurs’ second-best player at all this season.
Levy should be sweating over how much he offered Alli due to the fact that he has not seen a significant return from him yet.
Hopefully Alli can arrest his slump in form soon because Spurs may have their first ever Champions League final to play in a few weeks’ time if they can turn around a one-goal deficit against Ajax on Wednesday night.