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https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...gland-euro-2016?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Facebook
The incoming corner was too low for Dele Alli to flick on with his head, as had been prescribed in the training-ground drill, and so he improvised. He does a lot of that. Alli jumped and, in the blink of an eye, he had sent a back-heeled chip looping over the goalkeeper and into the far-top corner of the net.
Karl Robinson, the MK Dons manager, who had Alli in his ranks at the time, laughs at the memory. There was more to come. He had the journalist Michael Calvin as his guest and as Alli walked off the pitch, Robinson wanted to introduce the pair. “Dele spat his chewing gum out, caught it on his knee, kicked it into the air, caught it back in his mouth and carried on walking,” Robinson says.
The Tottenham midfielder had made his introduction and at times like these, it is tempting to recall the story about how Paul Gascoigne beat Ronald Koeman with a Cruyff-turn for England at the 1990 World Cup and then asked the Holland star how much Barcelona had paid for him. “Dele’s a little so-and-so,” Robinson says, with a smile. “But d’you know what? There was no arrogance in that thing with the chewy. He just did it because he’s a cheeky chappie.”
So many people have come to have favourite Alli moments and Robinson has loads of them. He recalls one of the 20-year-old’s first goals for MK Dons, against Stevenage in September 2013, when he slid for a through ball into the area, controlled it and, in the same movement, swept it past the goalkeeper with the same foot. “I thought: ‘Wow.’ Just, ‘Wow’,” Robinson says. “I don’t care what anybody says and who anybody thinks they are – you do not coach that.”
Tottenham fans would most likely choose Alli’s touch, overhead flick, spin and volleyed finish from outside the area against Crystal Palace in January while England supporters would go for the goal that he scored against France on his full debut last November. Having won the ball with a strong challenge, he got it back from Wayne Rooney, advanced and hammered a shot from 25 yards into the far-top corner.
The common themes for the midfielder that Sir Alex Ferguson describes as the best he has seen since Gascoigne have been technique, audacity and fearlessness. The hope, from an England perspective, is that he can continue his inexorable rise at the European Championship. Alli is one of 11 tournament debutants in Roy Hodgson’s squad and when Rooney, who lit up Euro 2004 as an 18-year-old, said that a few of the new boys could “have that sort of impact”, it is likely that Alli was in his thoughts.
This time last year, Alli had just won promotion from League One with MK Dons; his £5m move to Tottenham had been agreed the previous February, only for him to be loaned back to the club that he joined as an 11-year-old for the remainder of the season. He was named as the Football League’s Young Player of the Year.
Alli is now the PFA’s Young Player of the Year, after a breakthrough season at Tottenham, in which he scored 10 Premier League goals and if he is prominent among England’s brightest hopes, he also stands as a standard bearer for lower league talent. “When I signed for Tottenham my target was to get 10 starts,” Alli said, after his two-goal performance in Tottenham’s 4-0 win at Stoke City in April. Those targets had to be reappraised. By the end of the season, he was a central figure in their push for a first title since 1961.
Alli has made things happen through the force of his talent and personality. His first game for Tottenham came in pre-season against Real Madrid last August, in front of 70,000 fans at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena and, after 24 minutes, he nutmegged Luka Modric. He offers the impression that he would gladly attempt to nutmeg a mermaid. On his second competitive appearance for Tottenham, Alli scored in the 1-1 draw at Leicester City and then there was the goal against France. He was also outstanding in England’s 3-2 away win over Germany in March.
Hodgson first called him up for the qualifying ties against Estonia and Lithuania last October, with injuries biting in central midfield and at a time when Alli had made only three league starts for Tottenham. Such was the impression he made that Hodgson resisted his natural inclination to develop Alli through the under-21s.
At Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino would also find that Alli’s claim on a regular place was irresistible. Alli had shown his determination from the outset, reporting for fitness training several days each week last June, when all of the other players were off. Alli had smashed the running records at MK Dons and Pochettino quickly recognised him as the fittest member of his squad. He was made for the manager’s high-tempo style.
Above all, though, Alli has shown the happy knack of being able to seize the moment. In all professional sports there can be talk of potential but there comes a time when it has to be fulfilled; when an individual has to deliver – and the earlier, the better. In a positive omen for Euro 2016, Alli has so far been able to do so.
“It’s no coincidence that the very best players do things at pivotal moments, whether that be David Beckham taking the free-kick against Greece or Steven Gerrard having that shot in the last minute of the FA Cup final against West Ham,” Robinson says. “It’s because they have tremendous belief in their ability, first and foremost, and that was Dele. He could step through the age groups and do things that were so unpredictable at pivotal times.”
Talk to anybody about Alli and they will tell you that he is extremely likeable and level-headed, with excellent support around him, whether that be from senior players in the dressing-room or Alan and Sally Hickford, the couple that effectively adopted him.
Alli’s mother, Denise, was struggling to cope on her own with three other children and, also, with an alcohol problem, and she told the Sun on Sunday in an emotional interview that she had allowed her son to move in with the Hickfords when he was 13 in order to give him a better chance in life. She said that she had been worried he would fall in with the gangs that were affecting the Bradwell area of Milton Keynes, where they lived.
Alli was a classmate and good friend of one of the Hickford’s children, Harry, at Radcliffe School in Wolverton while he also played alongside him at City Colts boys’ club in Milton Keynes. The pair were taken to MK Dons when their under-11’s coach, Mark Walsh, got a job at the club’s academy. The Hickfords, who lived in the more affluent area of Cosgrove, never formally adopted Alli and they have not wanted to speak about the story or give their version of the various timelines. Harry remains on the books of MK Dons.
“Alan and Sally are phenomenal people,” Robinson says. “They have supported and guided Dele so well. With his talent and all the support he has around him, he’s going to be extremely successful.”
It is not difficult to see Alli as a street footballer and there has always been an edge to his game. He was suspended for the final three matches of the season after throwing a punch at West Bromwich Albion’s Claudio Yacob in an off-the-ball incident and it was noticeable last week that Ricardo Carvalho, the veteran Portugal defender, attempted to provoke Alli on two occasions during England’s 1-0 friendly win at Wembley. Alli did not back down but, crucially, he did not lose his cool.
Pochettino describes Alli as “very calm and very mature”, particularly given how “his life has changed this season”. It stands to change further. Euro 2016 represents another big step up and will provide the latest test of his ability and temperament. Alli will not be fazed.
The incoming corner was too low for Dele Alli to flick on with his head, as had been prescribed in the training-ground drill, and so he improvised. He does a lot of that. Alli jumped and, in the blink of an eye, he had sent a back-heeled chip looping over the goalkeeper and into the far-top corner of the net.
Karl Robinson, the MK Dons manager, who had Alli in his ranks at the time, laughs at the memory. There was more to come. He had the journalist Michael Calvin as his guest and as Alli walked off the pitch, Robinson wanted to introduce the pair. “Dele spat his chewing gum out, caught it on his knee, kicked it into the air, caught it back in his mouth and carried on walking,” Robinson says.
The Tottenham midfielder had made his introduction and at times like these, it is tempting to recall the story about how Paul Gascoigne beat Ronald Koeman with a Cruyff-turn for England at the 1990 World Cup and then asked the Holland star how much Barcelona had paid for him. “Dele’s a little so-and-so,” Robinson says, with a smile. “But d’you know what? There was no arrogance in that thing with the chewy. He just did it because he’s a cheeky chappie.”
So many people have come to have favourite Alli moments and Robinson has loads of them. He recalls one of the 20-year-old’s first goals for MK Dons, against Stevenage in September 2013, when he slid for a through ball into the area, controlled it and, in the same movement, swept it past the goalkeeper with the same foot. “I thought: ‘Wow.’ Just, ‘Wow’,” Robinson says. “I don’t care what anybody says and who anybody thinks they are – you do not coach that.”
Tottenham fans would most likely choose Alli’s touch, overhead flick, spin and volleyed finish from outside the area against Crystal Palace in January while England supporters would go for the goal that he scored against France on his full debut last November. Having won the ball with a strong challenge, he got it back from Wayne Rooney, advanced and hammered a shot from 25 yards into the far-top corner.
The common themes for the midfielder that Sir Alex Ferguson describes as the best he has seen since Gascoigne have been technique, audacity and fearlessness. The hope, from an England perspective, is that he can continue his inexorable rise at the European Championship. Alli is one of 11 tournament debutants in Roy Hodgson’s squad and when Rooney, who lit up Euro 2004 as an 18-year-old, said that a few of the new boys could “have that sort of impact”, it is likely that Alli was in his thoughts.
This time last year, Alli had just won promotion from League One with MK Dons; his £5m move to Tottenham had been agreed the previous February, only for him to be loaned back to the club that he joined as an 11-year-old for the remainder of the season. He was named as the Football League’s Young Player of the Year.
Alli is now the PFA’s Young Player of the Year, after a breakthrough season at Tottenham, in which he scored 10 Premier League goals and if he is prominent among England’s brightest hopes, he also stands as a standard bearer for lower league talent. “When I signed for Tottenham my target was to get 10 starts,” Alli said, after his two-goal performance in Tottenham’s 4-0 win at Stoke City in April. Those targets had to be reappraised. By the end of the season, he was a central figure in their push for a first title since 1961.
Alli has made things happen through the force of his talent and personality. His first game for Tottenham came in pre-season against Real Madrid last August, in front of 70,000 fans at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena and, after 24 minutes, he nutmegged Luka Modric. He offers the impression that he would gladly attempt to nutmeg a mermaid. On his second competitive appearance for Tottenham, Alli scored in the 1-1 draw at Leicester City and then there was the goal against France. He was also outstanding in England’s 3-2 away win over Germany in March.
Hodgson first called him up for the qualifying ties against Estonia and Lithuania last October, with injuries biting in central midfield and at a time when Alli had made only three league starts for Tottenham. Such was the impression he made that Hodgson resisted his natural inclination to develop Alli through the under-21s.
At Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino would also find that Alli’s claim on a regular place was irresistible. Alli had shown his determination from the outset, reporting for fitness training several days each week last June, when all of the other players were off. Alli had smashed the running records at MK Dons and Pochettino quickly recognised him as the fittest member of his squad. He was made for the manager’s high-tempo style.
Above all, though, Alli has shown the happy knack of being able to seize the moment. In all professional sports there can be talk of potential but there comes a time when it has to be fulfilled; when an individual has to deliver – and the earlier, the better. In a positive omen for Euro 2016, Alli has so far been able to do so.
“It’s no coincidence that the very best players do things at pivotal moments, whether that be David Beckham taking the free-kick against Greece or Steven Gerrard having that shot in the last minute of the FA Cup final against West Ham,” Robinson says. “It’s because they have tremendous belief in their ability, first and foremost, and that was Dele. He could step through the age groups and do things that were so unpredictable at pivotal times.”
Talk to anybody about Alli and they will tell you that he is extremely likeable and level-headed, with excellent support around him, whether that be from senior players in the dressing-room or Alan and Sally Hickford, the couple that effectively adopted him.
Alli’s mother, Denise, was struggling to cope on her own with three other children and, also, with an alcohol problem, and she told the Sun on Sunday in an emotional interview that she had allowed her son to move in with the Hickfords when he was 13 in order to give him a better chance in life. She said that she had been worried he would fall in with the gangs that were affecting the Bradwell area of Milton Keynes, where they lived.
Alli was a classmate and good friend of one of the Hickford’s children, Harry, at Radcliffe School in Wolverton while he also played alongside him at City Colts boys’ club in Milton Keynes. The pair were taken to MK Dons when their under-11’s coach, Mark Walsh, got a job at the club’s academy. The Hickfords, who lived in the more affluent area of Cosgrove, never formally adopted Alli and they have not wanted to speak about the story or give their version of the various timelines. Harry remains on the books of MK Dons.
“Alan and Sally are phenomenal people,” Robinson says. “They have supported and guided Dele so well. With his talent and all the support he has around him, he’s going to be extremely successful.”
It is not difficult to see Alli as a street footballer and there has always been an edge to his game. He was suspended for the final three matches of the season after throwing a punch at West Bromwich Albion’s Claudio Yacob in an off-the-ball incident and it was noticeable last week that Ricardo Carvalho, the veteran Portugal defender, attempted to provoke Alli on two occasions during England’s 1-0 friendly win at Wembley. Alli did not back down but, crucially, he did not lose his cool.
Pochettino describes Alli as “very calm and very mature”, particularly given how “his life has changed this season”. It stands to change further. Euro 2016 represents another big step up and will provide the latest test of his ability and temperament. Alli will not be fazed.
