english affiliation football player
not to be confused with Bamidele Ali
Bamidele Jermaine “ Dele “ Alli ( DEL-ee AL-ee ; [ 4 ] born 11 April 1996 ) is an english professional football player who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the England national team.

Reading: Dele Alli

Born and raised in Milton Keynes, he joined the youth system at Milton Keynes Dons aged 11 and broke into the beginning team five years subsequently, during the 2012–13 season. Over the future two-and-a-half years he made 88 official appearances for the team, scoring 24 goals. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in February 2015 for an initial tip of £5 million, being loaned back to the Dons for the remainder of the temper. In each of his beginning two campaigns at White Hart Lane, Alli was voted the PFA Young Player of the year and made the PFA Team of the class. Alli played for the England U17, U18 and U19 teams, before making his senior debut in 2015. He was selected for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, helping England to the semi-finals of the latter .

Club career

Milton Keynes Dons

early career

Alli joined the youth system at Milton Keynes Dons when he was 11 years old after playing for City Colts. [ 5 ] He made his debut for the inaugural team as a sixteen-year-old on 2 November 2012, coming on as a 64th-minute utility for Jay O’Shea in a 0–0 draw with Southern Football League club Cambridge City in the FA Cup first round at Milton Road. [ 6 ] His beginning touch in master football was a back-heeled pass. [ 5 ] His first goal came in the replay against Cambridge eleven days late, where he scored in a 6–1 win at Stadium MK on his first base start. [ 7 ] He made his league debut in a 2–3 defeat to Coventry City at home on 29 December, where he played 71 minutes before being replaced by Zeli Ismail. [ 8 ] His only early league appearance in the 2012–13 Football League One season, came as a second-half substitute for Patrick Bamford in the final match of the season, a 2–0 succeed over Stevenage at Broadhall Way. [ 9 ]

2013–14 season

The 2013–14 season saw Alli break into the MK Dons first team on a regular footing. He started the Dons ‘ foremost league couple of the season, a 0–0 draw away at Shrewsbury Town. [ 10 ] In his first Football League Trophy appearance, Alli scored to help MK Dons beat Northampton Town 2–0 and thus progress to the moment polish of the tournament. [ 11 ] On 28 September, Alli scored his first professional league goal in the 4–1 thrash of Stevenage. [ 12 ] After being in and out of the first team picture in former 2013 due to injury setbacks, Alli would go on and establish himself as a first-choice player in 2014. He scored the opening finish in the 3–2 gain over Shrewsbury Town at Stadium mk on 11 January, with a header from Stephen Gleeson ‘s speck authorize. [ 13 ] On 11 March, against Notts County at Meadow Lane, aged 17 years and 11 months old, Alli scored a hat-trick to guide the Dons to a 3–1 victory. [ 14 ] His following and final finish of the 2013–14 season, came on 5 April against Coventry City at the Sixfields Stadium ; Alli struck a volley from 25 yards out as MK Dons defeated Coventry 2–1. [ 15 ] He made 37 appearances in all competitions during the 2013–14 season, scoring 7 times, with 33 appearances and 6 goals in the league .

2014–15 season

With the departure of Gleeson to Birmingham City in June 2014, [ 16 ] Alli became the first-choice central midfield partner to Darren Potter. He started the season brilliantly, playing the first league match of the season as the Dons overcame a 2–0 deficit to defeat Gillingham, 4–2. [ 17 ] He then helped the team to a 3–1 win over arch-enemies, AFC Wimbledon, in the League Cup inaugural round. [ 18 ] His first finish of the 2014–15 season came in the first aside league couple, a 3–2 frustration to Peterborough United, where he scored a tap-in from Will Grigg ‘s deflect blastoff. [ 19 ] On 26 August, Alli played the entire 90 minutes in the League Cup second round as MK Dons recorded a historic 4–0 win over Manchester United. [ 20 ] It was reported that numerous scouts from top clubs across Europe attended the match to watch him play, including representatives from Bayern Munich and Liverpool. [ 5 ] [ 21 ] In the match after the 4–0 League Cup win over Manchester United, Alli continued his rich people vein of phase with a goal curled in from the edge of the box in a 2–0 win over Crawley Town. [ 22 ] After the international break, Alli played 77 minutes in the 5–3 winnings against Barnsley, assisting the Dons second finish and scoring their third goal himself with a chip over the Barnsley goalkeeper. [ 23 ] He was chosen as the Football League Young Player of the Month for August. [ 5 ] On 18 September, Alli extended his shrink with MK Dons until June 2017. [ 24 ] Two days late, in a match against Crewe Alexandra, he scored a hat-trick and achieved one assist in what turned out to be a 6–1 victory for the Dons. It was the second hat-trick of his career and the first he achieved at home, which besides led to him winning the man of the Match award. [ 25 ]

Tottenham Hotspur

On 2 February 2015, Alli signed for Premier League cabaret Tottenham Hotspur in the last hours of the mid-season transfer window on a five-and-a-half-year share for an initial tip of £5 million. [ 26 ]

Milton Keynes Dons ( loanword )

Following his transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, Alli was immediately loaned back to MK Dons for the remainder of the 2014–15 season. [ 26 ] On 19 April, he was chosen as the Young Player of the year at the Football League Awards. [ 27 ] The season ended on 3 May with Milton Keynes Dons promoted mechanically to the Championship as runner-up behind Bristol City, after a 5–1 home winnings over demote Yeovil Town. [ 28 ]

2015–16 season

On 8 August 2015, Alli made his Tottenham debut against Manchester United in the Premier League as a stand-in in a 1–0 frustration away at Old Trafford, playing the last 13 minutes in station of Eric Dier. [ 29 ] Two weeks late, he scored his first goal for the baseball club after coming on for christian Eriksen in the 1–1 draw against Leicester City. [ 30 ] On 13 September, Alli made his beginning start for Tottenham in a 1–0 gain against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. [ 31 ] On 2 November, he started and scored the second goal in an eventual 3–1 win over Aston Villa. [ 32 ] Six days later he started his first North London Derby aboard companion England child Dier in central midfield, and was awarded valet of the Match in the 1–1 draw between rivals Arsenal and Tottenham. [ 33 ] On 5 December 2015, he scored his one-third goal for Tottenham in the 2015–16 campaign in a 1–1 draw against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. [ 34 ] Following an impressive begin to his Premier League career scoring five goals and making three assists in his inaugural 18 league matches, he was rewarded with a newfangled long-run contract until 2021 on 12 January. [ 35 ] Eleven days subsequently he scored a 25-yard volley in a 3–1 win at Crystal Palace ; BBC Sport initiate and former Spurs player Garth Crooks wrote “ Well, I ‘ve seen some brilliant goals scored in my time watching football matches but I doubt whether I will see a goal scored with such individual flair, and by a 19-year-old, as Dele Alli ‘s goal at Selhurst Park – it was diaphanous class ”. [ 36 ] On 13 April, he was named on the six-man shortlist for 2015–16 ‘s PFA Young Player of the Year. [ 37 ] On 18 April 2016, Alli scored his inaugural brace for Tottenham in a 0–4 away win at Stoke City, [ 38 ] reaching ten goals in his debut Premier League season. [ 39 ] He was voted the season ‘s PFA Young Player of the year on 24 April. [ 40 ] On 28 April, Alli was banned by the Football Association for three matches, effectively ending his Premier League season, for an off-the-ball incident against West Bromwich Albion in which he punched midfielder Claudio Yacob in the stomach. He subsequently apologised for the incident on Twitter, express, “ Gutted that my season is over. Should n’t have reacted like I did. Will learn from this and come back stronger. ” [ 41 ]

2016–17 season

Alli playing for Tottenham Hotspur in 2017 ahead of the season, Alli changed his kit identify to Dele, saying that he had “ no association ” to his legal surname due to his separation from his mother. [ 42 ] His first goal of the season came in a 4–0 succeed against Stoke City on 10 September 2016. [ 43 ] Four days by and by, he made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 1–2 loss to AS Monaco at Wembley Stadium. [ 44 ] His beginning Champions League goal came against CSKA Moscow at the like stadium on 7 December 2016. [ 45 ] Between 18 December 2016 and 21 January 2017, Alli scored eight goals in six league matches, earning the award of Premier League Player of the Month prize for January 2017. This included three back-to-back braces against Southampton, Watford and Chelsea. [ 46 ] On 23 February, Alli received his first loss poster for a dangerous rigging on Brecht Dejaegere in Tottenham ‘s UEFA Europa League draw with K.A.A. Gent which saw Spurs eliminated at the Round of 32 stage of the contest. [ 47 ] On 20 April 2017, Alli was again named in the PFA Team of the Year, [ 48 ] having been included in the League One selection for 2015 [ 49 ] and the Premier League survival in 2016. [ 50 ] On 23 April, he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year, [ 51 ] the day after scoring in Tottenham ‘s 4–2 FA Cup semi-final loss to rivals Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. [ 52 ]

2017–18 season

Alli scored his beginning goal of the season in the opening crippled of the 2017–18 temper away at Newcastle that finished in a 2–0 succeed. [ 53 ] however, he was criticised for his incompatibility this season, failing to perform arsenic well as the previous season. [ 54 ] [ 55 ] On 1 April 2018, Alli scored doubly in the away fastness against Chelsea, helping Tottenham succeed 3–1, which was their beginning win in 28 years at Stamford Bridge. [ 56 ]

2018–19 season

On 11 August 2018, Alli scored his first goal of the temper, scoring the winning goal in the open league match against Newcastle United. [ 57 ]

On 26 September, Alli was named as master for Tottenham ‘s EFL Cup third round affiliation with Watford. The tie, played at Stadium MK due to delays in the completion of Tottenham ‘s raw stadium, marked Alli ‘s fall to the base ground of his boyhood club MK Dons, and the return to his home town of Milton Keynes for the first prison term as a Tottenham player. The necktie finished 2–2, with Alli scoring both a penalty in normal time and the winning penalty in a deciding punishment shoot-out. [ 58 ] In October 2018, Alli signed a new six-year batch at Tottenham, which would keep him at the baseball club until 2024. [ 59 ] He besides scored in the 3–1 home win against Chelsea, which was his one-sixth goal in five games against Chelsea, and the first defeat for Chelsea in the Premier League this temper. [ 60 ] In January 2019 he was rule out until March with a hamstring injury. [ 61 ]

2019–20 temper

Alli missed the starting signal of the season due to a hamstring wound. [ 62 ] He returned to the team in the North London Derby on 1 September 2019, coming on as a alternate. [ 63 ] He scored his beginning goal of the season in the match against Watford, drawing 1–1. [ 64 ] In November 2019, Mauricio Pochettino was dismissed by the club to be replaced by José Mourinho. Mourinho played Alli as an attacking player precisely behind Harry Kane, reverting to his earlier position after playing in a bass midfield role the previous two years. According to Mourinho, “ Dele is not a midfield actor ”. [ 65 ] [ 66 ] The attacking function gave Alli greater exemption to score, and he scored three goals in his beginning three games under Mourinho, two of which came in the bet on against Bournemouth. [ 67 ] In February 2020, Alli posted a video on his Snapchat account in which he appeared to mock an asian man while joking about the COVID-19 outbreak. [ 68 ] The video showed Alli wearing a confront mask at Heathrow Airport while waiting for his flight to Dubai, before the camera moved to show a serviceman of asian appearance before zooming in on a bottle of antiseptic handwash, apparently suggesting the asian man in the terminal could be infected with the virus. The video was captioned : “ The virus gunna [ sic ] have to be faster than that to catch me ”. [ 69 ] In June 2020, Alli was found guilty of an “ aggravated gap ” of the FA govern that includes a reference book to rush, coloring material, heathen beginning and/or nationality, and was judged to have used an “ unacceptable racist stereotype ” by the regulative commission. [ 70 ] Alli was suspended in June 2020 for one meet by the Football Association, making him ineligible for Tottenham Hotspur ‘s Premier League bet on at home against Manchester United on 19 June. He was besides fined £50,000 and ordered to undertake an department of education class. [ 68 ]

2020–21 season

In the inaugural half of 2020–21 season, Dele was reportedly out of favor with Mourinho, making few starts in games. [ 71 ] [ 72 ] [ 73 ] Most of his starts in games were in the UEFA Europa League, and he scored his beginning goal of the temper in the Europa League play-off equal against Maccabi Haifa on 1 October 2020 to cap a 7–2 win for Tottenham. [ 74 ] In the Europa last-32 match against Wolfsberger on 24 February 2021, he scored a luminary goal with a bicycle kick, starting a 4–0 spread-eagle with two far assists. [ 75 ] [ 76 ] He made his first gear startle in six months in the Premier League on 4 March, in the match against Fulham that ended in a 1–0 gain when his shoot at goal was deflected off a defender for an own-goal. [ 77 ] 2021–22 season On 22 August 2021, Dele scored his first finish of the temper, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 winnings against Wolverhampton Wanderers. This was Dele ‘s inaugural Premier League goal since March 2020. [ 78 ]

International career

Alli has made several appearances at U17 and U18 levels for England. [ 79 ] On 27 August 2014, Alli was called up to the England U19 team following an impressive starting signal to the campaign. [ 80 ] He made his debut for England U19 in the 1–1 draw against Germany U19. In the match, Alli assisted the open goal feeding a through ball to Bradley Fewster who gave England a 1–0 lead. [ 81 ]
Alli warming up for England in 2018 In February 2015, it was reported that John Fashanu would try to convince Alli to play for Nigeria. [ 82 ] however, on 1 October of that year, he was included in Roy Hodgson ‘s England squad for the concluding UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Estonia and Lithuania. [ 83 ] He made his debut against the former on 9 October, coming on as a late utility for Ross Barkley in a 2–0 acquire. [ 84 ] On 17 November 2015, Alli made his first depart for the England senior team, scoring the open goal from a long range shoot to beat Spurs teammate, goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in a 2–0 gain against France at Wembley Stadium. [ 85 ] He was again named in the starting line-up for England ‘s friendly match against earth champions Germany on 26 March 2016. Alli was named serviceman of the meet by the BBC Sport as England recovered from 0–2 down to win 3–2 at the Berlin Olympiastadion. [ 86 ] Alli was selected for the 23-man England squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. [ 87 ] On 7 July, Alli scored the second gear goal of the game in a 2–0 winnings over Sweden in the quarter-finals of the competition, as England reached the semi-finals for the first time in 28 years. [ 88 ] Alli played for England in the semi-final meet against Croatia, winning a free-kick through which England took the tip, though they finally lost 2–1 following extra-time. [ 89 ] In October 2019, he was left out of the England police squad for forthcoming Euro 2020 qualifying matches. [ 90 ]

Player profile

stylus of meet

early in his career, Dele was widely considered one of the best young midfielders of his coevals, [ 91 ] [ 92 ] [ 93 ] and won PFA Young Player of the Year two years running. [ 94 ] He was praised for his all-around skillset and his goalscoring art, particularly when playing as a second striker. [ 95 ] Dele ‘s then-manager, Mauricio Pochettino, said in 2017 : “ In the box, he looks like a striker, and outside the box, he plays like a midfielder. ” Rafael van five hundred Vaart said of Alli that he is “ fast, fluent and has a great skill set ”, [ 96 ] while Frank Lampard praised Alli ‘s news in his ability “ to get into the box without being marked ”. [ 97 ] however, Dele ‘s form faded from 2018 onwards, resulting in him losing his place in the England team in 2019. [ 98 ] Alli watches the best players to try to learn from their dash of play, including Lionel Messi, Xabi Alonso, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi angstrom well as his paragon Steven Gerrard. [ 99 ] His teammate Harry Winks described Alli as being like Fernandinho, but Dele Alli has described his own play style as “ a cross between Gerrard and Yaya Touré. ” [ 100 ] Alli has been wide accused of diving and has received bookings for pretense. [ 101 ] [ 102 ] [ 103 ] [ 104 ] [ 105 ]

reception

In 2018, Alli was considered the world ‘s most expensive midfielder from a transmit value perspective by the CIES. [ 106 ]

personal life

Alli was born in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, [ 107 ] to a Yoruba Nigerian father Kehinde [ 108 ] and English mother Denise. Kehinde moved to the United States a workweek after Alli ‘s birth. [ 109 ] Alli was initially brought up by his mother, who suffered from alcohol problems. [ 109 ] At the age of nine, he moved to Nigeria with his founder, where he spent two years in an external educate before returning to Milton Keynes to live with his mother. [ 110 ] Alli went to Stantonbury Campus [ 99 ] and The Radcliffe School in Wolverton. [ 111 ] At the age of 13, he moved into the family home plate of Alan and Sally Hickford, parents of another young football player with MK Dons and whom he refers to as his “ adoptive parents ” although he was never legally adopted by them. [ 109 ] [ 112 ] In the summer of 2016, Alli elected to stop wearing his surname on his match shirts because he felt no connection with the Alli family name, alternatively opting for “ Dele ”. [ 42 ] Alli was a Liverpool fan growing up with Steven Gerrard his childhood idol, [ 5 ] and saw Gerrard and Frank Lampard as dear function models on how they act as professionals. [ 99 ] He is besides a fan of british hip hop music, which led rapper Cadet to release a single referencing the football player, “ Advice “. [ 113 ] On 13 May 2020, Alli was held at knifepoint during a burglary by two men who broke into his house in union London. He was punched and suffered minor facial injuries. The burglars stole jewelry including watches. [ 114 ]

career statistics

club

As of match played 21 November 2021

International

As of match played 9 June 2019[126]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team
Year
Apps
Goals

England

2015
4
1

2016
11
1

2017
7
0

2018
11
1

2019
4
0

Total
37
3

As of match played 9 June 2019. England score listed first, score column indicates score after each Alli goal.[126]

Honours

Milton Keynes Dons
Tottenham Hotspur
England
Individual

References