You probably know the story by now. Newcastle United were so close to signing Dele Alli in January, 2015 that the club's media team were even preparing a press release to announce his arrival before Spurs nipped in and landed the wonderkid from MK Dons.
Fast forward seven years and the Magpies, at the very least, did consider a loan move for Dele after a move for Jesse Lingard did not come off. The usually guarded Eddie Howe, himself, acknowledged that there were 'a host of things that could have maybe dropped in a different way' before admitting that Dele was a 'top' player he had 'admired' for years.
You can see why. Sometimes, it is easy to forget that this gifted footballer was among an elite group of players who retained the PFA Young Player of the Year award - only Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Robbie Fowler had previously done that - and Dele was once rated among the very best number tens in the business when he had the eye of the tiger under Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs.
