‘Stale’ Tottenham star urged to make radical move and ‘start again’
Darren Bent feels Dele Alli should leave Tottenham and consider a move away from London to revitalise his flagging career.
Dele, 25, has become a shadow of the player rated as one of the top Premier League midfielders just a few years ago. He struggled under Jose Mourinho, playing only a peripheral role at times. And things have not improved this term, with one goal from six starts and eight Premier League appearances.
The England ace scored 10 times during the 2015-2016 season and found the net 18 times the following campaign. But he seems devoid of confidence and is no longer an automatic pick.
New Spurs chief Antonio Conte will need to work his magic on the former MK Dons star. But there are several pundits who feel a change of scenery is required.
Spurs legend Clive Allen has urged him to leave the club but Bent has taken it a step further.
“I think he needs a fresh challenge somewhere else,” he said on talkSPORT. “He looks to me like the world is weighing him down, and it shouldn’t do.
“Listen, he is playing at a great football club – great players, great supporters – I think he needs to go elsewhere now. I think he needs to go somewhere and refocus.
He added: “I did it, I left Spurs. I needed to go somewhere where I could just solely focus on playing football and for me, Sunderland was the perfect landing spot.
“Ultimately, the following season I had the best season I ever had, scored 25 goals. But I needed to go somewhere where there was hardly any distractions and I could focus solely on playing football.”
Dele going ‘stale’ at Spurs
Dele has made 264 appearances in all competitions for the north Londoners, scoring 67 goals. He has been capped 37 times by England but is currently out of the international setup.
Gareth Southgate has not selected him since 2019 but there is still time to turn things around. And former Spurs star Bent feels his career has run its course at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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“He’s had Pochettino, he’s had Mourinho, he’s had Ryan Mason, he’s had Nuno and now he’s had Conte,” he added. “I think you just get to a point where you become stale in an environment. He needs to just go anywhere else and start again.
“There is a player there who shows little touches here and there, but right now I am looking at a player that is going stale where he is right now.”
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