Dele Alli advised to retire like Ash Barty if football not important to him anymore

Before the 2018 World Cup I met Dele Alli in the sports hall at St George’s Park, where England train. I said to him: “Do you realise how much ability you have got?”

Ever since I was a kid I would get an England shirt with a name on the back for a big tournament. I had Rooney in 2006 in Germany, Gerrard in 2010. In 2018, I got Dele’s name, that’s how much I admired his talent. He had everything. Physique, technique, genuine natural ability to go from box to box. He could run with it, pass, time his runs.

But he’s become this guy, four years on, who is unrecognisable. The initial criticism of him was: Is he too nice? The best in the world tend to be really ruthless with a devil about them that Dele didn’t have. I thought OK, no matter, he can still get to the top. Only three years ago he started for Spurs in a Champions League final.

But he has fallen off a cliff so badly I am wondering if there is something deeper we don’t know. I am reluctant to weigh in after the problems I had at the end of my career. But I am searching for reasons why, and I’d love him to call me and chat, like other players in trouble have done in the past.

I need to find out, because he had every quality of a modern midfielder… everything people are now lauding Jude Bellingham for. I’d say Dele you still have the chance to talk to people, take counsel, and work through what’s missing. Start with Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole at Everton. Pochettino too.

Dele needs to answer some serious question, for himself, no one else. He has to ask: Do you want to play professional football, or are you not cut out for it? If not, don’t do that, think of conning clubs into giving you a year, based on past reputations, and drift down the ranks. Everton, to