A hectic day at Finch Farm was capped off by the signing of Dele Alli from Tottenham Hotspur.
New manager Frank Lampard arrived on deadline day and was soon followed by the announcement the club had signed midfielder Donny van de Beek from Manchester United.
Alli was announced late into the evening and the deal represents a great piece of business for Everton and Lampard, with moves for Nathan Patterson and Vitaliy Mykolenko meaning the squad is now in a much better position than it was at the start of January.
READ MORE: Frank Lampard first words as Everton manager as backroom team confirmed
READ MORE: Everton agree Dele Alli transfer with Spurs as three deals could still be done
Although Alli arrives on the back of a forgettable few years in North London, there’s a real hope Goodison Park may be the environment in which he can rediscover his best form.
It didn’t take long for Alli to shine at Spurs following his arrival from MK Dons in 2015 and he scooped back-to-back PFA Young Player of the Year awards during his first two full Premier League campaigns.
Yet the departure of Mauricio Pochettino in 2019 triggered a change for Alli and he struggled to replicate his best self under the colder and constraining tactical approaches of the likes of Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and more recently, Antonio Conte.
Some of Alli’s issues across recent seasons have been attributed to the mental aspects of his game, with each of those aforementioned managers not boasting the same man-management expertise that Pochettino had.
The hope for Everton will be that Lampard can play a crucial role in making the 25-year-old again feel valued, and it’s thought that the new Everton boss played a decisive role in Alli choosing to come to Goodison Park.
Lampard is said to have spoken to Alli directly, advising him of his value and stating that he’d be able to get the best from the attacker at Everton.
But whilst the managerial upheaval and occasional volatile environment at Spurs did have an adverse impact on Alli’s game, there were also tactical issues that played a part too.
Alli thrived playing in behind strikers and the top end of his side’s attack. He loved picking the ball up in dangerous areas and threading balls into forwards ahead.
Notably, in Pochettino’s last season, he ranked behind only Christian Eriksen at Spurs in terms of attempting the highest number of through passes per 90. But this season he’s as low as 12th in the same department.
A key reason as to why is because he’s no longer being exclusively used in those more dangerous areas within the final third. The 25-year-old has instead been finding himself in midfield, tasked with starting attacking moves rather than helping to finish them.
Although competent in such a role, he doesn’t really excel in it, and that’s something that has made it tough for him to maintain a regular spot in Spurs’ starting 11.
The impact of these positional changes can be captured in the numbers too.
When compared to that aforementioned 2018/19 season, this year he’s nearly doubled his output in terms of defensive interceptions per 90 made (3.79 to 6.38), and has seen his per 90 average in terms of shots attempted significantly reduce (1.78 to 0.51).
Taking shots and scoring goals was a staple of Alli’s early success. Coincidently just like his new manager, Alli was a master of making late runs into the penalty area.
And it’s easy to forget after barren recent campaigns, but at his best he netted 28 Premier League goals in just two seasons between 2016 and 2017 - he also registered a further 16 league assists across that period too.
Though those numbers have subsided more recently, for the reasons stated above, there’s a real belief that Lampard can get Alli back on track.
Alli does after all in many ways mirror Lampard’s own playing profile, making him the ideal mentee for the Everton manager.
