Dele Alli labelled ‘a joke’ as Iwobi opens up on horror Everton spell after loan

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Dele Alli’s Everton team-mate Alex Iwobi has opened up on training with the former Tottenham star, who has since returned from his loan spell at Besiktas after reportedly falling out with the Turkish side’s head coach. The 37-cap England man is back at Goodison Park to receive treatment for an injury, as his future at the Toffees remains uncertain.

Iwobi has turned his Everton career around and has been an important figure under Sean Dyche and Frank Lampard before him. The Nigerian’s work ethic has played an important role but the same cannot be said for Alli. The ex-Spurs midfielder has had his lack of effort in training highlighted previously, as Iwobi lifted the lid on working with the “joke” of a player.

He told FilthyFellas: “With him, he will say it himself, he isn’t a training player. Unless it’s a match in training and then you see Dele perform. When it comes to training matches, he is a joke. When it comes to drills – he tries, but because he’s slow with it. When it comes to games, he will score and assist or something.

“It was hard for him to play. If you’re not just doing it in training, and at the time, the manager needed reliable players. He couldn’t really put his trust in him. We all know Dele could have performed.”

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It is not the first time that Alli’s commitment to training has been questioned, as then-Spurs boss Jose Mourinho lambasted him and urged the star to do more to achieve his potential during the club’s Amazon documentary. Mourinho told Alli: “I am 56 now, and yesterday, yesterday, I was 20. In no time. Time flies.

“One day, I think you will regret if you don’t reach what you can reach. I’m not expecting you to be the man of the match every game, I’m not expecting you to score goals every game. I want to tell you that I think you will regret. You should demand more from you. Not me demanding more from you. Not me. Nobody. You. I think you should demand more from you.”

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Alli has continued his fall from grace having failed to impress Mourinho, moving to Everton where he was unable to leave a positive impression on Lampard after his move in January 2022. “Having worked closely with him for a period I have to say he really does need to understand the relation of training and focus to what that means to performance at the highest level,” Lampard said before Alli joined Besiktas on loan.

“It’s not just the Dele story, I would say that to any player because it’s the only thing I know. I wasn’t a saint, but I know what training can do and focus can do, and that’s something he really has to take on board. If he can, it can be not just a great thing for him but for the teammates around him in the squad. He’s at that point. That is the test for him now.”

Alli is unlikely to return to Besiktas and has a year left on his contract at Everton, with his future very much up in the air before Dyche’s men take on Bournemouth on the final day of the season in an attempt to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

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