Thursday 3 September 2015 12:40, UK
Deadline Day brought nothing but frustration for Tottenham, but rising star Dele Alli can help lift the gloom at White Hart Lane, writes Nick Wright…
After a winless start to the campaign and a frustrating end to the transfer window, Tottenham supporters could be excused for feeling a little apprehensive about the season ahead.
But amid the disappointment of their stuttering form and their unsuccessful pursuit of West Brom's Saido Berahino, there is a fresh-faced lad from Milton Keynes who is providing plenty of cause for optimism.
Dele Alli agreed his £5m move to Spurs in January before returning to boyhood club MK Dons on loan for the rest of last season. He scored 16 goals from midfield as they won promotion from League One, and a few days after his 19th birthday he was named Football League Young Player of the Year.
Alli has taken the step up at Spurs in his stride. He was lining up against Yeovil Town just three months before their pre-season meeting with Real Madrid in August, but he was unfazed by his new surroundings and introduced himself by nutmegging Luka Modric. Alli has confidence as well as quality.
The teenage midfielder's rapid rise continued with a Premier League debut at Old Trafford on the opening day of the campaign, and he scored his first goal for Spurs against Leicester before earning a call-up to England's U21 squad. The pressure is already mounting on Mauricio Pochettino to hand him his first start.
At MK Dons they are toasting his success. Alli joined the club's academy as an 11-year-old in 2007, and his burgeoning talent saw him fast-tracked into the first team at the age of 16. MK Dons' director of youth Mike Dove oversaw his development right from the start.
"When you look back you think, 'Oh yeah, he was sensational'," he tells Sky Sports. "My first memories of him are an U11s game against Norwich. I remember seeing him as this skinny lad. He looked a bit different to the others. He had some confidence in his football. He seemed to exude some form of self-belief. It was a sunny day at Norwich watching him play and I thought, 'OK, this is interesting'."
He had some confidence in his football. He seemed to exude some form of self-belief.
Alli came through the MK Dons youth ranks alongside left-back Brendan Galloway, who is also making an impact in the Premier League with Everton, and Dove says it wasn't long before he outgrew youth football. "He was with me and the U18s at the age of 16," says Dove. "He just looked bored. He needed challenging and that was too easy for him. In his second year of his apprenticeship he was pretty much full-time with the first team."
Alli scored a long-range stunner on only his second first team appearance in an FA Cup tie against Cambridge United in November 2012, and in March 2014 MK Dons manager Karl Robinson described him as "one of the best 17-year-olds this country has ever seen."
He played centre midfield and was a 17-year-old playing like a 30-year-old.
Scouts descended on Stadium mk, and Pochettino was in the crowd last season when he orchestrated the Dons' memorable 4-0 win over Manchester United in the Capital One Cup. "He played centre midfield and was a 17-year-old playing like a 30-year-old," said the Spurs boss recently.
What else set him apart at such a young age? "The technique," says Dove. "You see him now against Modric, that's just part of his tool box. It was his love of the ball, always wanting it at his feet."
Dove fondly remembers Alli's "cheekiness" on and off the pitch, and says the youngster was encouraged to express himself at MK Dons, where his departure was met with sadness and pride in equal measure. "What we were able to do with him was give him the environment for freedom, where he could make mistakes without stopping the creative side of him," says Dove.
"As you see now, that's something he has developed. He has made mistakes, but that's the journey these players have to go through. It's his creativity, his love of the game and his fear-free attitude."
Dove references that "fear-free attitude" on numerous occasions during our conversation, and it has certainly come across during Alli's swift adaption at Spurs. "It's not come as a surprise to me," he says. "He won't have gone in there cocky, but with his confidence and self-belief, he can fit into any environment."
Alli's rise up the England age groups has been a similar story. "I went to see him in Portugal in the Algarve tournament with the U17s when he first played for England," recounts Dove. "I was on the plane and he was sitting with some of the Premier League boys behind me. They were all quite arrogant and he wasn't sure how to fit in. Six months later, [U18 head coach] Neil Dewsnip said he was walking into St George's Park like he owned the place. He always feels like he belongs."
Alli's comfort in possession defies his years, but he is also a formidable athlete who has provided an injection of dynamism on his appearances for Spurs. "I guess genetics plays a part," says Dove. "Dele has that natural athleticism, but there's a hard-working boy in there too. I remember when he was with the first team and he'd been injured, the feedback I got was that he was excellent at rehab. He always wanted to do what was right."
Alli's 6ft 2in frame makes him an imposing presence in midfield, and his playing style is characterised by tireless box-to-box running. Alli was only on the pitch for 25 minutes in Spurs' 1-1 draw with Leicester, but Premier League tracking data shows he made more high-intensity sprints (34) than six of Tottenham's starters that day, including the man he replaced, Erik Lamela.
An England Under-21 debut and his first start for Tottenham are the next milestones awaiting Alli, but just how far can he go? Dove doesn't hesitate. "All the way," he says. "Our club is only 10 or 11 years old, so in the academy we're looking at who will be our first Champions League player. I get the feeling it's going to be him. I'm really confident."
Tottenham's transfer window may have ended in disappointment, but the addition of Alli back in January already looks like a coup. The 19-year-old has made a habit of exceeding expectations, and Pochettino will be hoping his bright start at Spurs is a sign of what's to come.
