Mark Lawrenson of The Evening Standard reckons Liverpool would surely be regretting missing out on Tottenham superstar Dele Alli, who he says was so close to signing for the Reds back in the summer of 2015, only for the Anfield outfit to pull out of the deal in the final minute.
Lawrenson has revealed that Liverpool agreed terms with the player and the deal was supposedly close to happening the next day. But somehow, Liverpool made a U-turn as they were not willing to pay the asking price for the current England international.
Alli eventually signed for Tottenham for £5million and even signed a new long-term deal with Spurs in September 2016 worth around £50,000 per week.
Alli has scored 19 goals this season, along with providing 10 assists. All of this have come in 42 games and the stats are insane considering the player’s age and experience. He only burst onto the scenes last season and was awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year award. This year too, he seems to be the obvious candidate for the award and there seems to be no other youngster in the league to match Alli’s performances.
Dele has now established himself as one of the best youth talents in Europe, but Lawrenson says
“Not everyone within the Spurs hierarchy was immediately sold on the youngster’s potential. The other thing as well is Tottenham have a transfer committee and I know one of the guys on it . When they went to buy him only three of the five said yes. When I say only of course only three was enough. I saw him at Preston a few times against MK Dons and he pretty much just ran the game.”
Liverpool were the first club to show interest in Alli and Lawrenson believes that the pain of failing to secure the services of a such huge talent is still being felt at Anfield.
Lawrenson told you-are-the-ref.com: “He was going to Liverpool. It was absolutely all done and sorted but Liverpool had a change of heart the next day. It was a change a heart over money rather than the actual boy. They are regretting it every single minute of every single day. He’s a player isn’t he, as in he’s one of those lucky lads who can be anything that he wants to be but he also has that little bit of edge about him.”
What a signing Dele Alli would have been for Liverpool! It is sad to even think that they missed out on signing such a talent despite being so close. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of young talent at Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp would be happy with the quality of players available at his disposal.
