Dele Alli came to embody Tottenham decline - so will Everton get the player who lit up Premier League?

More than any other player, Dele Alli embodied Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team – thrilling, fearless, relentless and with an edge – but he also came to be the best personification of the club’s decline.

Once a superstar, described by Pochettino as the best 21-year-old in the world, Dele’s star has fallen to the point where Spurs allowed him to join Everton on an initial free transfer, despite the 25-year-old still having two-and-a-half years on his contract.

The deal could eventually be worth a substantial fee of over £30million but still underlines Tottenham’s desperation to offload a player who has failed to win over three consecutive head coaches in Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.

Nuno and Mourinho both hooked Dele at half-time of important matches and Conte came close, while all three eventually dropped him from their squads while fit, feeling he could not be trusted.

There were concerns at Spurs over Dele’s lifestyle which were often hinted at by Mourinho, who warned the player not to finish his career with regrets in a one-on-one meeting which was captured by Amazon Prime’s fly-on-the-wall documentary of the 2019-20 season.

There was also a feeling within the club that Dele had lost the fight, focus and hunger that, according to Pochettino, made him the player he was.

The Argentine consistently said Dele needed a “naughty side” and “the devil” on his shoulder to perform at his best, and that spark drained away in the last few seasons as he squandered a succession of chances to impress.

From a brilliant entertainer and match-winner, Dele became an unsettled influence in the Spurs squad, and the club’s desire to offload him reflects a determination to assemble a group that is fully