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Ex-Spurs Player Dele

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Starks said:
17/18 - Lost Walker, Rose and Wanyama injured. Didn't improve starting eleven. Forced Poch to play inferior full backs, changed the system and Dele's performance suffered as a result. There were glimpses of 'old Dele' throughout but the system didn't help him one bit. This is year I remember fans starting to get on his back. Quite harshly, considering the years prior.

18/19 he declined massively. I put this down mostly to the fact our 16/17 team was pretty much gone at this point and the hamstring injury that I think to this day has cost him his top flight career. Eriksen didn't want to be here anymore. Dembele was sold off. Rose was a shadow. Walker long gone. Alderweirelds decline. Vertonghen on his last legs

19/20 is the season you show anyone who values statistics over eye test. Statistically, yes, better than the previous season, but it was obviously the new manager bounce and short lived confidence that bumped that up. His overall game was pretty much non-existent at this point. Hanging on for Dele this long not only hindered our growth but hindered his career too.

The less said about 20/21 and 21/22 the better.

Dele was heavily reliant on players around him. The typical systems player. He benefited through having better footballers around him mixed in with a system that was used to get best out of his strengths mixed in with his hunger and desire of a youngster that wanted it all.

I don't remember ever watching Dele for England and being impressed. When was the up time in his international career? He's scored 3 goals for his country. Bare in mind, up until the point of his last ever cap (back in 2019), he'd never scored less than at least 7 goals in all comps from the moment he started games as a 16 year old. A shocking return.

He scored a great goal on his debut (I think France was his debut), during the height of his confidence. But he pretty much flattered to deceive most of the time he put that England shirt on. Of course there were highs (World Cup Quarters) but he also had highs during his decline with us too (Ajax semi).
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I'm not suggesting for a second that the erosion/deconstruction of Poch's team played no part (he's not alone on that front however..... Dier & Davies being reborn underlines the importance of the overall unit/system/tactics/quality of surrounding personnel), but any synopsis that doesn't factor in Dele's rapid, premature physical deterioration is a flawed one.....

Age 19 - 21 >>>> First 3 top flight seasons...... 146 apps....... Brutal.

(Even in the injury tainted 18/19 season he still clocked up 38 apps & 3000mins)

He was regularly playing with strapped up legs by aged 22 and was quoted complaining that his body "can't do what it used to do" by aged 23.

Starks said:
I'll always remember that 2x YPOTY Dele who was fantastic in one of the best Spurs teams I've seen. But he's a cautionary tale.
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Which as per your synopsis is what? ......Don't let a team deteriorate? (Mildly facetious of me, but what is that "tale" in your opinon?)
 
Airfixx said:
Which as per your synopsis is what? ......Don't let a team deteriorate? (Mildly facetious of me, but what is that "tale" in your opinon?)
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Don't rest on your laurels.

At 21 years of age, he had the world at his feet. Probably could have been signed by any club in world football (Not from ability, but reputation). I don't think Dele worked hard enough when he got a certain stage of his career and probably didn't think he needed to.

Whether that's a mixture of his upbringing, changes in his personal wealth, interests outside of the game or not. I don't know. And in my opinion, Dele probably doesn't even care. He's a millionaire with a more comfortable life than I imagine he ever imagined. Can do and go wherever he wants in the world and doesn't have to worry about a thing.

You don't lose your ability between the ages of 21 and 26 years of age. And that tells me that he's as much of a systems player that relied heavily on those around him as anyone ever has been.

He isn't the first person who's burst onto the scene only to end up in mediocrity, someone of which lore is told. He won't be the last either... but I just wonder if he's the saddest case of it all.
 
Starks said:
Don't rest on your laurels.

At 21 years of age, he had the world at his feet. Probably could have been signed by any club in world football (Not from ability, but reputation). I don't think Dele worked hard enough when he got a certain stage of his career and probably didn't think he needed to.

Whether that's a mixture of his upbringing, changes in his personal wealth, interests outside of the game or not. I don't know. And in my opinion, Dele probably doesn't even care.

He's a millionaire with a more comfortable life than I imagine he ever imagined. Can do and go wherever he wants in the world and doesn't have to worry about a thing.
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Perhaps he lost focus at one point or another, but I think he does care..... I think on certain occasions it's been visibly eating away at him.

Starks said:
You don't lose your ability between the ages of 21 and 26 years of age. And that tells me that he's as much of a systems player that relied heavily on those around him as anyone ever has been.
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Even more fundamentally, one has to be able to rely on their own body.

You have subsequently (above) brought many more factors into question here now too; all of which go to show it's a more complex scenario than simply "Team got shit = Dele exposed as being crap"...... We likely won't unravel it all into a definitively accurate version.


People so often want the simple explanation; yet they often aren't in the offing.

Starks said:
He isn't the first person who's burst onto the scene only to end up in mediocrity, someone of which lore is told. He won't be the last either... but I just wonder if he's the saddest case of it all.
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Sad it most certainly is.
 
CarrieFi said:
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Not a shock considering he's getting rid after 6 months of signing him. That's now 5 managers who have all came to the same conclusion. He signed his last extension with Spurs early on in 18/19 season and you have to wonder was that when he lost his hunger after getting wedged up.

Injuries were a factor at that stage too but IMO it looks like he didn't give a fuck after he was made financially.
 
todd1882 todd1882

Dean Winchester Reaction GIF
 
Yid91 said:
Not a shock considering he's getting rid after 6 months of signing him. That's now 5 managers who have all came to the same conclusion. He signed his last extension with Spurs early on in 18/19 season and you have to wonder was that when he lost his hunger after getting wedged up.

Injuries were a factor at that stage too but IMO it looks like he didn't give a fuck after he was made financially.
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Another Bentley.
 
CarrieFi said:
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Hold it...and this will take a somewhat meandering path to get there so follow along. If this kid was a slacker in training (what we talkin bout here, practice?), didn't improve in his 7 years with us, and beyond that got inarguably less useful then one can conclude he was actually hurting the team/club with his mere presence not to mention his inclusion in the side. I don't think there are any logical leaps taken there nor do I think it is at all controversial to conclude.

So my question is; If I were a happy clappy "just give in to the hive mind and mindlessly support the players and give everyone a gold star for participation" type person would one have been hurting the club they love by jack-booting this thread to tamp down any dissent about this player? I'm asking for a friend...

cretinousgoat said:
Backs up what Jose said.
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Uhhhh, no need to make Jose the seer of all things. By the time he got here this player had been shit/not useful for going on 3 seasons. Jose was still wrong because he attributed it to the kid not giving the effort instead of him not actually having a shit ton of ability that his goal scoring prowess would suggest. That last bit is a very important aspect that I see Starks has posted on earlier. Kid benefited from the system immensely and had little intrinsic quality. Now he's in Turkey.
 
todd1882 said:
Hold it...and this will take a somewhat meandering path to get there so follow along. If this kid was a slacker in training (what we talkin bout here, practice?), didn't improve in his 7 years with us, and beyond that got inarguably less useful then one can conclude he was actually hurting the team/club with his mere presence not to mention his inclusion in the side. I don't think there are any logical leaps taken there nor do I think it is at all controversial to conclude.

So my question is; If I were a happy clappy "just give in to the hive mind and mindlessly support the players and give everyone a gold star for participation" type person would one have been hurting the club they love by jack-booting this thread to tamp down any dissent about this player? I'm asking for a friend...


Uhhhh, no need to make Jose the seer of all things. By the time he got here this player had been shit/not useful for going on 3 seasons. Jose was still wrong because he attributed it to the kid not giving the effort instead of him not actually having a shit ton of ability that his goal scoring prowess would suggest. That last bit is a very important aspect that I see Starks has posted on earlier. Kid benefited from the system immensely and had little intrinsic quality. Now he's in Turkey.
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Unimpressed Sea GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants
 
To be fair, hearing quotes like that and I can't help but think about Danny Rose's comments about people being shit in training and shit in games and still play. Even Mourinho called Dele out on it on the documentary.

Dele started 21 out of the 24 possible games he could start under Mourinho that particular season. I know Dele comes across as quite popular with players and in dressing rooms, but I can't help but feel some players may have felt a little annoyed.

And now I am starting to wonder if that was the eventual downfall with Pochettino. We all know about Pochs famous gruelling training sessions. It was key for us in the earlier years. But what happened in that final year? Was he a bit more lax in training? Did he become more of a friend to the players than a coach? Was Dele allowed to be poor in training because he's Dele? But still start each week ahead of other players who may have worked their bollocks off?

It's quite sad.
 
VirginiaSpur said:
Quick Google search says he's worth 22m.

I intend to catch up with him.
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Dr Rocktopus said:
He's landed in Turkey because of his piss poor attitude. Fuck him.
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I think that's really harsh. If someone offered us a player for 5 million home grown who would give us the goals returns and assists Dele Alli has (including an asisit that takes us to a ECL final) I think we'd think we've robbed the selling club. Good value good buy at the time and good luck to him. He might have regrets later as a Spurs fan I have none.
 
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