It hasn’t been the start to life at Everton that Dele Alli was hoping for when he made the move to Goodison Park from Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day.
The 25-year-old attacking midfielder is still yet to start his first game for the Toffees having only come off the bench six times during his time on Merseyside so far.
Frank Lampard has been far from impressed by what he’s seen so far from the England international and it’s no surprise that he has found game time hard to come by.
Sources tell The Mirror that it isn’t just his performances that have disappointed him already but also the lack of fitness Alli showed upon arriving.
“There are some around the Everton training camp who were surprised at just how low the starting level was with Dele and particularly his fitness for a player who had made 19 appearances for Spurs this season,” they write.
It’s not been two months since Alli walked through the door at Finch Farm and already he has proved to be a massive flop of a signing.
The Toffees may not have paid any money towards him in January but the bills will start coming from next season.
In his day, he is one of the most naturally gifted players in the entire Premier League but he seems to have taken all of that for granted.
With football played the way it is nowadays with high-tempo pressing and lung-busting runs, Alli’s more relaxed wandering around just doesn’t work.
He really has to up his work ethic and get himself as fit as the rest of the Toffees midfield if he is to have any kind of future under Lampard at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, Richard Keys has dropped some major team news for the Toffees ahead of this weekend’s clash with West Ham.
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Everton transfer news: Sky Sports pundit delivers ‘crazy’ Sean Dyche verdict over Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Sean Dyche would be “crazy” not to assess whether Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin could help him at Everton, says Kevin Campbell.
The pair of forgotten midfielders have been on loan at Lille and Trabzonspor respectively but are both due back at Goodison Park this summer with a further year left to run on their Toffees contracts.
The Portuguese have faded from prominence at Everton since the devastating injury he suffered in the draw with Tottenham on 3 November 2019, while the Ivorian has only made eight appearances from the club since his arrival four years ago, but Campbell doesn’t think Dyche can write anyone off yet.
The Sky Sports pundit exclusively told Goodison News: “Listen, I think Sean Dyche would be crazy not to look at every player. Because they’re on the books.
“But I’m sure he has an idea of what he wants in and the problem is he’s not worked with them, so he’s going to have to find out in preseason and the summer what they’re like.
“If they fit then they probably stay. If they don’t then they go. It’s that black and white, to be honest.”
The chances of either Gomes or Gbamin becoming a fixture in Dyche’s Everton side seem slim, but the former Burnley manager’s arrival has already seen stunning revivals from Abdoulaye Doucouré and Michael Keane.
Both looked done as first-team factors under Frank Lampard but have become key men under the new boss, and their expected exits may not be such foregone conclusions now.
Supporters, and Dyche, will hope for the ability to make signings in the summer to boost this squad but the transfer market has proven to be anything but straightforward for Everton recently, so returning loanees may be the next best thing.
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