When Tottenham signed Dele Alli in the closing hours of the 2014-15 winter transfer window from MK Dons, they knew they’d landed a talented young player. But what the young Englishman has achieved in the short years since must have been beyond their wildest dreams.
Alli was a £5million transfer in February 2015. In June 2018, the CIES Football Observatory put his value at roughly £152million – in other words, roughly 30 times his transfer fee. And it’s quite likely that, having signed him to a new contract on Tuesday, Tottenham wouldn’t part with him even for that astronomical amount.
And the 22-year-old has justified the hype. Back in April, when he marked his 100th Premier League appearance by scoring two goals to help Spurs to their first away win over Chelsea since 1990, an astonishing stat emerged. At that 100-appearance mark, he’d outshone some of England’s leading midfielders of the era – by far.
He had 61 goal contributions at that point – 36 goals, 25 assists. After 100 league appearances, David Beckham’s tally was 43, Paul Scholes’ 34, Steven Gerrard’s 24, and Frank Lampard’s 18. Alli is blowing away some England legends.
And if he’s doing that, what chance do his contemporaries have? Since making his Premier League debut in August 2015 – he was loaned back to MK Dons for the rest of the 2014/15 season after his transfer – he leads all English midfielders in goals and assists.
Tottenham’s transfer business has come under scrutiny of late, but they seem to be going by the adage that tying down a player to a long-term contract can be as good as a new signing. Alli’s looking like one of those players.
