Everton midfielder Dele Alli potentially permanently joining Besiktas this summer “makes no sense”, according to Sky Sports pundit Kevin Campbell.
What's the latest on Alli's future?
The Premier League veteran joined the Turkish outfit on a season-long loan in August 2022 but had his spell cut short after returning to Goodison Park to receive treatment on his hip tendon injury, not to mention that they decided not to trigger the buy option included in his terms.
England’s former international had a disappointing time in the Super Lig, scoring just three goals all season, but despite his poor form, the club’s president Ahmet Nur Cebi recently admitted that they could look to take the 27-year-old back on a permanent basis during the upcoming window.
Back in April, Sean Dyche revealed that no decision has yet been made regarding the future of the Toffees star, who will be out of contract next summer, with the boss first and foremost wanting him to focus on getting fully fit again.
Speaking to Goodison News, Campbell delivered his verdict on Alli returning to Besiktas for good should his deal at Everton get terminated, and it’s fair to say that he’s completely against the move taking place. He said:
“No I just don’t see it. I don’t know what’s going on. To me that makes no sense. He’s not good enough for you now so you’re sending him back, but you’ll sign him on a free in the summer? That makes no sense. No sense at all.”
Should Everton keep or sell Alli?
Everton will have a lot of decisions to make on the futures of their senior first-team players if they get relegated at the end of the season, but Alli has only ever made 13 Merseyside appearances and has hugely disappointed during those, so regardless of the club's league status, Farhad Moshiri should cut all ties this summer.
The Adidas-sponsored athlete has scored zero goals with no assists for the Blues since joining, and throughout the 2021/22 season where he made the bulk of his outings, he only managed to record three shots all campaign, with none of those even being on target, as per FBRef, not to mention he was ranked the 21st worst member of the squad with a WhoScored match rating of 6.26.
If there was further reason to get him out of the building, Alli also pockets £100k-per-week and is the third-highest earner on the books, which is unbelievable for a player who isn't even part of the senior fold right now, so letting him go would help free up the wage bill and put the spare cash towards signing some fresh faces in the weeks and months ahead.