Dele Alli has been handed a career lifeline by Everton after his shock deadline day move - but the former Tottenham outcast was on the cusp of a move to France before Frank Lampard intervened.
Alli was an integral cog in the Spurs side that came within a whisker of both Premier League and Champions League glory under Mauricio Pochettino in recent years.
But the midfielder's career has nosedived ever since Pochettino left the club.
The 25-year-old has struggled to replicate the heroics that he seemed to conjure up on an almost weekly basis at the beginning of his Tottenham career under Pochettino's successor, Jose Mourinho.
And that has proved to be the case under Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte over the past 18 months too.
Join the debate! Do you think that Lampard is the man to get Alli firing again in the Premier League? Let us know here.
With that in mind, both Spurs and Alli were eager for the ex-England star to make a fresh start this month - and that looked set to be in France.
But despite Tottenham offering Alli to a clutch of Ligue 1 clubs, including Lyon and reigning champions Lille, on loan, Everton swooped in on deadline day after Lampard was appointed as their new boss.
And according to L'Equipe, it was Lampard who was instrumental in Alli's decision to pull the plug on a switch to France.
They claim that the opportunity to revive his career and learn from Lampard, the most prolific midfielder in Premier League history, was too good an opportunity for the ex-Spurs man to turn down.
After making their move, the Toffees managed to beat the deadline and wrap up a unique transfer that sees Alli move to Merseyside for nothing, initially.
But the deal could end up earning Tottenham around £40million if a number of performance-related clauses are met.
During his seven years in N17, Alli established himself as one of the Premier League's most exciting goalscoring midfielders; just as Lampard did during his illustrious career at Chelsea.
In total, Alli notched 51 league goals in 181 appearances for Spurs. But the goals have dried up for Alli over the last two years - with only one of those goals coming in the past two seasons.
Lampard is fifth in the Premier League's all-time scoring charts with 177 goals - a total that puts him over 50 goals ahead of Steven Gerrard, who is the next midfielder on the list.
And Alli is adamant that working with Lampard can help him reignite his career.
“It is a perfect match and I can’t wait to get going,” Alli told evertontv. “Speaking to the owners and manager and some of the players… we are heading in the same direction, we want to look forward, and that is how I am as a person.
“I don’t ever think anything is enough. You want to achieve as much as you can, score as many goals and get as many wins as you can. To keep building and heading in the right direction. It’s what the club wants and what I want, too.
“Frank is an amazing manager and an amazing person. He knows me very well as a player, I know him and his tactics and how he likes his teams to work. I can learn so much from him.
"He scored a lot of goals from midfield, I will speak to him about that and the way he fought on the pitch and what he did to make the most of his talent."
