da blaze casino： The midfielder was once one of the most devastating players in the Premier League – so what on earth has gone so wrong?

da 888casino： Dele Alli is currently in a state of footballing limbo. Although his loan spell at Besiktas has been terminated early, Everton are unable to register him for their relegation run-in – even if he to recover in time from his injury.

This literal sporting limbo is a continuation of the incredible drift that Dele's career has been on in recent years.

Once tipped to dominate the Premier League long into the 2010s, he now has not scored a top-flight goal since August 2021 – and it's increasingly difficult to see that wait coming to an end any time soon.

Recently, Dele's stagnating career has increasingly been put down to his poor attitude, lack of focus and unprofessional approach to training.

Does this tell the full story, though? GOAL reflects on Dele's eventful spell in the public eye…

Getty ImagesA cut above the rest at MK Dons

Dele began his career at MK Dons, and after making his first-team debut aged just 16, it soon became clear that he was a cut above those he was facing week in, week out in League One.

Evidence of his supreme confidence came early on too, with the midfielder's first ever touch as a professional being a cheeky, back-heeled pass.

At the time, manager Karl Robinson reflected: "I was going to throttle him. I can't say what I said but it was along the lines of 'the cheeky little something or another'. It was 0-0 against a team from non-league [Cambridge City]. In the replay, he scored from 35 yards, and I knew the kid had something."

He became a regular for MK Dons in the 2013-14 season, with Dele registering six goals and three assists in 33 league games.

The following campaign was his true breakout year, though. In 39 appearances, Dele, playing either a shuttling No.8 or as a No.10, scored a staggering 16 goals – all of which came from open play. Unsurprisingly, he was crowned Football League Young Player of the Year at the end of the season.

He headed into the summer with a move to Tottenham already sewn up – spending the second half of the campaign back on loan at his hometown club – and few could have predicted the incredible impact he would have in the Premier League.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesThis Premier League lark is easy

Dele might have been expected to take some time to adjust to the best league in the world – he was only barely out of his teens when the season ended. The step-up in quality was no problem, though.

After impressing Mauricio Pochettino in pre-season, Dele appeared as a second-half substitute in Spurs' first game, a 1-0 Premier League defeat to Manchester United. His first top-flight goal would come before August was out too, as he scored a back-post diving header in a 1-1 draw with eventual-champions Leicester City.

Dele eventually broke into the starting XI for his team's trip to Sunderland in September – and he would not be displaced for the rest of the season.

His campaign was exceptional. Used in a few different roles, Dele was insanely productive, playing with a youthful arrogance that helped force Spurs into the title race. He was particularly adept at arriving in the box at precisely the right time, as typified by outstanding volleys against West Brom and Everton.

No goal summed up Dele's season more than his audacious strike at Selhurst Park, though. Taking down a header from Christian Eriksen on his chest, he waited for Joe Ledley to engage on the edge of the box, before looping the ball back over the Welshman's head and firing an unstoppable strike past Wayne Hennessey in the Crystal Palace goal.

Dele beat out competition from Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and Philippe Coutinho to win the PFA Young Player of the Year award at the end of the campaign. The only thing that ruined a near-perfect season was his involvement in England's doomed Euro 2016 squad that summer.

However, it wasn't all negative on the international front. A few months before Iceland debacle, Dele netted against France on his full Three Lions debut, rifling an effort into the top corner from outside the box.

Simply put, in the summer of 2016, he had the world at his feet.

Getty ImagesA generational talent?

After such a thrilling first campaign, expectations were sky high for Dele ahead of the 2016-17 season. Did he feel the pressure? Absolutely not.

Dele's second season in the big time followed the pattern of his first, only this time he scored more, assisted more and became even more instrumental for club and country.

A run of three successive Premier League braces against Burnley, Southampton and Chelsea over the festive period was particularly spectacular and ramped up speculation that he could make a big-money summer switch to one of Europe's biggest clubs.

By the end of the season, Dele had plundered 22 goals and 13 assists in a mammoth 50-game campaign. Those performances ensured that he had more Premier League goal contributions than Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard before his 21st birthday.

Towards the end of that season, Pochettino made a now ominous prediction: "I think Dele Alli has a completely different personality to Neymar. I think he's a special player too. I don't know if he's in this level yet – but the potential will be to be like him or better. I think Dele is an unbelievable player, great player, still very young and his potential is massive. We'll see what happens. He has the potential to improve a lot."

Getty Images'He is a little bit nasty'

For all of his otherworldly talent, there has always been another side to Dele, something that Pochettino would admit partway through the 2017-18 season.

"Look, there are a lot of positives from Dele. Of course, he's not perfect. Nobody is perfect. Of course, he is a clever boy. He is a little bit nasty," the Spurs boss reflected.

The Argentine's comments came after Dele was booked for simulation in a 2-2 draw with Liverpool, during a period where the midfielder's propensity to go down easily in the box led to much pearl-clutching in the media.

This was far from the first, or the last, controversy of his burgeoning career either.

Back in April 2016, Dele was retrospectively banned for punching West Brom's Claudio Yacob – a decision that cut his season three-games short.

One year later, he was dismissed in his side's Europa League last-32 second leg tie against Gent for a sickening high tackle. It was petulant, an angry reaction to not having a decision go his way seconds earlier, and it effectively ended his side's chances of progression to the next round.

It also meant that he missed Spurs' first three Champions League group-stage games the following season, depriving him of a headline meeting with Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu.