As he weighed all the factors before offering Dele Alli a contract at Como, maybe Cesc Fabregas watched a clip from a game at Goodison Park two and a half years ago.
That day, the midfielder, one of English football’s greatest unfulfilled talents, suggested he still had enough spark to make a difference.
Coming off the bench at half-time in Everton’s penultimate game of the 2021-22 season, a contest against Crystal Palace that was pivotal to ensuring their Premier League survival, Dele changed the game.
At 2-0 down, he won the free kick from which Michael Keane scored the Merseysiders’ first. Then, it was his blocked shot that fell into the path of Richarlison for the equaliser.
Dele was right in the mix of a congested penalty area when Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s header secured a memorable comeback, and he was in the middle of the frenzied celebrations that accompanied the final whistle. It seemed he could grab the momentum and move forward with a stalling career.
Dele Alli watches a game at Como in December (Jacopo M Raule/Getty Images for Como 1907)
Last month, though, his time at Everton came to an end. “It’s been an incredibly tough journey trying to put the final pieces together to regain match fitness and I cannot thank the Everton staff enough for the hard work they have put into this process,” he wrote on Instagram. “Unfortunately things haven’t worked out as we all would have hoped and it’s the right time for me to turn a new page.”
Now the 28-year-old is called upon to try to be the difference for another team in blue and white battling relegation.
Much has transpired since that chaotic, triumphant night at Goodison against Palace but if his performance hinted at a corner turned, it led only to a dead end. Dele would only make three more appearances for Everton before being sent on loan to Besiktas in Turkey.
During the ensuing years, the football world also learned more about how off-the-pitch demons have plagued Dele’s career.
In the summer of 2023, the two-time PFA Young Player of the Year opened up on his mental health struggles, revealing he had been sexually abused as a child and explaining he had been to rehab to deal with his dependence on sleeping pills.
He returned to Everton after a mixed spell in Turkey, where he made 15 appearances and scored three goals, with talk of trying once more to get regular top-flight football in England.
A return to match fitness constantly seemed out of reach but, even when his contract expired in July, he continued to train at Everton as part of his rehabilitation from a long-term thigh problem.
Discussions took place over a one-year contract, which hinged on Dele first proving his fitness. However, after finishing his individual training programme, he did not get to the stage of completing regular sessions with then-manager Sean Dyche’s first-team group.
Inevitably there will, once more, be hope that he can fully restore the type of career that was once so promising. At his pomp, the attacking midfielder looked to have the world at his feet. He scored 67 times and registered 57 assists in 269 games for Spurs, amassing 37 England caps in the process. He played a starring role at the 2018 World Cup, helping his country reach the semi-finals. There was regular talk of a move to Real Madrid.
Dele scores in the 2018 World Cup quarter-final against Sweden (Yuri Cortez/AFP via Getty Images)
But simply playing regular top-flight football will represent success now. The past is a foreign country and as Dele travels to another, desperate to find his way again, it may help if memories of England and global acclaim are shelved.
That was his old story. As the Serie A newcomer on the edge of Lombardy’s picturesque lakes, he can write a new chapter. But his prospects of a full season at Como in 2025-26 hinge on how much he is available between now and May.
Dele will have to hope for better luck than the repeated setbacks he has suffered on Merseyside and prove that his body can still withstand the requirements of a professional footballer.
He left Goodison with goodwill from staff, team-mates and supporters, even though his signing was partly symptomatic of the dysfunctional recruitment of Farhad Moshiri’s reign at Everton.
Across the English game, there has been a groundswell of support since he spoke about his mental health problems.
Dele had a huge impact when he broke through at Spurs (Geoff Caddick/AFP via Getty Images)
If the midfielder is to finally revitalise his career in Italy — or even add more memorable contributions in the same way a troubled Paul Gascoigne managed with a spell at Lazio in the 1990s — there will be delight among many.
Dele will have a manager, in former Arsenal and Barcelona hero Cesc Fabregas, who has spoken of wanting to treat players as his sons and repeat the successful methods of his mentor, Arsene Wenger.
Whatever it takes to finally coax a long-awaited second act out of Dele, it could well be worth it. He showed in Turkey that he was willing to go anywhere to find his way back.
Anyone who remembers the staggering potential shown by Dele as a young man can only hope his persistence is finally rewarded.
(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
