Adrian Durham claimed Aston Villa playmaker Jack Grealish was better than Dele Alli based on the last time he saw both of them play.
The broadcaster claimed that over the course of both player’s careers so far, Alli had of course done better but if he based on his opinion on the last time he viewed both of them play, then Grealish is superior.
Durham made the remarks after a fan texted into the broadcaster’s show to question an Aston Villa fan who rang into say Grealish was better than Alli.
“Well over the course of their entire career, of course Dele Alli has had a better career but right now from what I’ve seen it’s Jack Grealish, last time I saw him play, he was far more effective than the last time I saw Alli play,” said Durham on talkSPORT (16:27, Monday June 10th).
OPINION
This is silly by Durham. The broadcaster is clearly trying to poke the bear by claiming Grealish is better than Alli based on their latest displays, as it’s not fair to compare them based on that. The last time Durham saw Alli play was for England in the Nations League at international level, while the last time he saw Grealish feature, was the Championship play-off final. While some may have their doubts about the quality of international football, it’s clearly at least a level higher than the Championship play-off final. This means it’s unfair that to say Grealish is better simply because he wowed at Wembley for the Villans against Derby as if Alli had played in that show he surely would have stolen the show. Alli, who earns £100,000-a-week at Spurs (Source: Spotrac), featured 38 times for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in his 2018/19 campaign and it was a disappointing season for him personally. The 23-year-old seemed to run out of steam way before the season officially ended and that saw him submit some lacklustre displays.