Frank Lampard has warned Dele Alli risks wasting his career at the highest level unless he rediscovers the focus that made him a World Cup semi-finalist with England four years ago.
Alli joined Besiktas on a season’s loan on Thursday seven months after leaving Tottenham for Everton. He moved from Spurs in an unorthodox deal under which Everton agreed to pay an initial £10m after 20 appearances, but even that modest target has not been reached. The 26-year-old, an England regular at the last World Cup and the Professional Footballers’ Association’s young player of the year in 2016 and 2017, has moved on after featuring only 13 times for Lampard’s team, 12 of those as a substitute.
