David Ornstein has reported for The Athletic that a deal to take Dele Alli from MK Dons to Aston Villa fell through, allowing Tottenham Hotspur to nip in and get the now-England international back in 2015.
The creative midfielder had travelled to the club’s training ground and been given a tour of the club by a delegation, but Paul Lambert had not felt the need to meet him in person as the team had an away game at Arsenal.
He was not said to be familiar with Alli’s game or potential, which meant he wasn’t overly bothered about the move being made, despite Villa offering the player £20,000-per-week and an integral part in the team.
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Mauricio Pochettino had an appreciation for Alli’s talents and went out of his way to lure him to White Hart Lane. The rest is history.
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Since joining Spurs, Alli has made 200 appearances for the club, scoring 59 goals and assisting 52 more.
It would be easy for Villa fans to rue missing out on a player like Alli, but there are reasons behind this actually being a blessing in disguise.
That is because there is a chance this move could have caused problems for Villa’s very own talisman: Jack Grealish.
Before January 2015, when Alli signed for Spurs, Grealish had only managed ten league appearances for Villa, going on to make an extra eight in the second half of that campaign.
He followed that up by playing a further 16 games in what would have been Alli’s first season, after being loaned back to MK Dons for the second half of the 2014/15 campaign.
It can be suggested that time would have been dented by Alli’s presence, due to the money Villa had offered him, the promises they had made and the talent he has gone on to show for Spurs and on 37 occasions for England.
However, with the way things turned out, Grealish went on to become an integral part of the team in 2016/17, playing 31 Championship games, eventually becoming the main man for Villa.
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Having helped them through the playoffs last term, he has got six goals and five assists across all competitions this campaign, becoming the club’s star player.
Alli may have been a game-changing signing given his 59 goals and 52 assists in 200 Spurs games but given they’ve occupied similar roles throughout their career, it could have had negative implications for Villa’s captain.
However, the way things turned out, it can be said that Aston Villa, Spurs, Alli and Grealish all ended up coming out of this situation with positives to take.
In other news, a proposed Villa signing could force Dean Smith to reverse his decision on Grealish.