- Mar 21, 2004
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Talksport been peddling this all morning, saying it's now a matter of time before he joins Man Utd, Barcelona or Real Madrid, it this is true how worried should we be
Super-agents vie for Dele Alli
Matt Hughes, Deputy Football Correspondent
exclusive
September 14 2017, 12:01am, The Times
Super-agents vie for Dele Alli
Matt Hughes, Deputy Football Correspondent
exclusive
September 14 2017, 12:01am, The Times
Dele Alli is being courted by the two most powerful agents in football as he prepares to appoint new advisers to manage the next phase of his career.
The Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder split with Rob Segal last month, having been with his Impact Sports Management team since he was 15 years old at Milton Keynes Dons, and is the subject of a scramble among the world’s leading sports management companies as they compete for his signature.
Jorge Mendes and Mino Raiola have joined the race for Alli despite having previously shown little interest in recruiting English players. They are understood to have approached the player through his adoptive family.
Harry Hickford, Alli’s house-mate whom he regards as a brother after moving in with his family at the age of 13, will also have a role managing his career and is likely to be taken on by whichever agency wins the contract.
Raiola, whose clients include the Manchester United quartet of Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Romelu Lukaku, does not have any English players on his books but Mendes’s Gestifute agency represents Andre Gray, the Watford striker, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and José Mourinho.
Joining up with either of the super agents would increase speculation that Alli’s ultimate goal is a transfer from Tottenham to Real Madrid or Barcelona, where Mendes and Raiola have impeccable connections and are well placed to facilitate a move. The 21-year-old England midfielder has five years left on his contract at Tottenham but is likely to be given an improved one this season.
Daniel Levy, the chairman, will not sell Alli until the club have spent at least one season in their new stadium, which would be the summer of 2019.
The FA responded yesterday to Fifa’s request for observations as part of its disciplinary proceedings against Alli after his middle-finger gesture during England’s 2-1 win over Slovakia last week. The FA requested that the case be dealt with before the World Cup qualifier against Slovenia next month.
The FA has submitted evidence in mitigation including television footage that it claims shows that Alli raised his finger at his team-mate, Kyle Walker, rather than the referee, Clément Turpin, but is pushing for an early hearing to minimise the risk of any suspension causing him to miss matches at next summer’s finals in Russia.