Everton boss Frank Lampard has been instructed to sell midfielder Dele Alli before the add-ons in his deal kick in by ex-Toffees star Richard Dunne.
Former Manchester City, Aston Villa and Republic of Ireland defender Dunne claims keeping hold of Alli only for the add-ons included in his January transfer from Tottenham to come into force would be foolish. Alli was signed by Frank Lampard for no initial fee midway through the season, but the nature of the potential future payments involved mean the deal could rise to as high as £40million depending on performance-based criteria.
One of those relates to when Alli plays 20 times for the Toffees; when that happens, Spurs will be owed £10million. Alli has 11 Everton appearances to his name so far, starting just one of those in the 5-1 defeat by Arsenal on the final day of the season.
Dunne, whose career saw him make 431 appearances in England’s top-flight, has urged Lampard to cash in on the 37-time England international this summer.
"I think for Dele it was an opportunity to prove himself and earn a contract,” Dunne told the Daily Express. "He's done ok but he's not done enough to start in the team and Everton needs players to start next season.
"So if Alli is going to cost them millions they would be foolish not to look around and see if they can get someone they can trust and they know will be available. He's not proved that over the last six months. I think there's just an overload of players that aren't up to the standard of Everton.
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"They got themselves out of it in the end and the manager deserves credit for that but there needs to be an improvement or the inevitable will happen and the manager will change again. For Everton to go forward they have to have that consistency in the manager's position and hopefully they give Lampard a few quid to spend in the summer and he can assemble a good team."
After falling out of favour at Spurs under Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte, Alli was deemed surplus to requirements, leading to his move to Merseyside. While at Spurs, Alli scored 67 times in 269 appearances in all competitions between 2015 and January 2022, helping them reach the Champions League final in 2019.
The midfielder has also won 37 caps for England and scored three times for the Three Lions. However, he has not played for his country since 2019.
Everton are expected to invest in the summer transfer window as they look for a much more positive 2022/23 campaign to the one they had last season, finishing 16th and avoiding relegation by only four points.
Jack Harrison, James Tarkowski and Miguel Almiron are among the names so far linked with joining Everton ahead of next season.
