Dele Alli is facing a crucial summer after returning to Everton early from an underwhelming season-long loan spell with Besiktas.
Everton confirmed back in April that the England international was returning to the United Kingdom after picking up a knee injury. The midfielder was set to see a specialist over his latest fitness setback.
Dele signed a two-and-a-half-year deal when he moved to Everton from Tottenham Hotspur under Frank Lampard in January 2021, but made the temporary switch to Turkey at the start of last season after quickly falling out of favour.
The former Spurs star arrived in Turkey amid much fanfare last August in a bid to revive his career after struggling to make an impact at Goodison Park. But he managed just 15 appearances in all competitions before returning home.
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Speaking back in April, Sean Dyche claimed Dele wanted to revive his fading fortunes, but Everton now face an expensive decision around the midfielder’s future. The 27-year-old has a year remaining on his contract, but the Blues have to pay Tottenham £10m once the 27-year-old makes 20 appearances, and he is currently on 13.
Everton’s players return to Finch Farm for the start of pre-season training later this week, and Karl Robinson, who was responsible for giving the midfielder his breakthrough at MK Dons, has told his former player how he can get his career back on track.
"I don’t overly think it’s because of finances; there are so many other fundamental factors in life, and it’s sometimes difficult to restrain and strangle talent," he told talkSPORT.
"It doesn’t always have to be yourself; it can be external pressure and external people; it can be the wrong people at the wrong moment at the wrong time.
"There are multiple players we can speak about who, at one stage, put at the top of the tree to almost sometimes fall and maybe catch them and build them back up.
"Control himself in how he prepares to train. In the modern-day game, it’s not just about the 90 minutes you perform because there are so many good players nowadays.
"A player who underachieves on his talent - there are so many different factors. That can be a mental component, external influences, and, for me, it’s the players who are so selfish, weirdly, that selfish trait to be the best that would be snarled at outside of our industry.
"You have to have that, and sometimes when you have that and people speak about it, it’s something you don’t really want because people will criticise you for having it.
"You’ve got to disconnect from the noise to be the best player in the world. I hope so. (Alli can bounce back). I think he will. He has the talent.
"For me, that’s a big point. When big players don’t play on big stages, you lose something. It makes you the best version of yourself, and he hasn’t had that.
"He needs to find something within him like he did when he was 17 and 18 when he first went to Spurs and first stepped on the pitch for England. He has to find that again, and it’s almost a longer road back - not look for a quick fix but a longer-term fix."
