Our Tottenham Hotspurs fans here inside the Transfer Tavern are weighing up whether it would be a good move to offer star midfielder Dele Alli a new deal. While that may have sounded odd a year or so go, the punters propping up our bar haven’t been all too impressed with him this season.
Alli hasn’t been the same player this season as many of regulars have been used to watching in the pub, however, in recent weeks his form has taken an upturn in fortunes, oddly during the transfer window…
Indeed, Daniel Levy and the board have a decision to make, do they offer one of England’s brightest stars a new deal to take him into the new stadium or do they cash in, similar to what they did with Gareth Bale a few seasons ago. Despite his dip in form, the former MK Dons youngster is always likely to command a huge transfer fee.
Levy has a reputation around his decisions to cash in on players at their highest valuation and bring in players on the best deal available, a reassuring thought for our local Lillywhites.
With that in mind, there’s been a lot of talk at the end of the bar in recent days over this, and our landlord takes a look at two possible reasons why Spurs shouldn’t offer Alli a new deal…
Cashing in
Alli, alongside Harry Kane, is Spurs’ biggest assets in the transfer market and Levy knows it. If Alli is not offered a new lucrative contract, which leaves him behind in the wage department, surely he’ll seek a move elsewhere.
While the England international is clearly a huge talent, his inconsistent form and disciplinary issues could seriously undermine Tottenham’s team moving forward. Unlike Kane, Alli isn’t absolutely irreplaceable, despite his importance in Spurs’ recent rise.
Many of the big teams across Europe you can imagine would pay through the nose to have such a talent in the squad.
Performances on the pitch
Maybe Alli in the first half of the season didn’t warrant getting a new deal, although he has been one of Spurs’ star performers over the years, many of the England man’s minutes on the pitch this season have been poor and not up to the standard he’s set himself.
Indeed, when things aren’t going his way, the 21-year-old tends to lose his temper and becomes a liability, costing his team in more ways than one.
An upturn in form and an elevation in class would say to the board, ‘you can’t give me a new deal’.
