Dele aiming for return to action in the New Year

Given our parlous situation, I presume there will be little incoming in the January window, so 9 games from Dele Alli at least gives us another option.

I wouldn't personally be surprised if it were none.

If he really wanted to give something back for the £20M plus we have wasted on him thus far, thanks to Kenwright's magnificent negotiating skills, he would re-sign for us next season, free of the Levy inspired manacles, on a performance related contract.

Pigs might also fly...

Hope he does play 5 games and shines.

6 games eh; 3rd round, 4th round, 5th round 6th round, Semi and Final?

He deserves it, for fuck's sake, We deserve it — If only.

Regards the payments, any surprise Spurs are suddenly interested in Ben Godfrey for January?

He is a talented footballer who lost his way. He's explained the background factors, so I don't need to. All I would say, aside from his personal life, it's a reminder of the expectation we put on young shoulders in the game.

Some can handle it, others can't.

I'm glad that the club are helping him rebuild his career.

If he can give me another half like he did against Palace, I'll take that.

Godfrey goes to Spurs on loan for six months, whilst we get to use Dele as much as we want without triggering any fees. Could be a win win for both players and both clubs.

One thing that is pretty certain we will not be parting with £10m.

The last thing we would need is the bizzies nicking him on his return to the team line-up.

Would he be doing renditions of “Easy Skanking”, or other Bob Marley hits?

The £10 million is the first payment of a eventual £30million transfer fee ,dependent on appearances.

He was cup tied when we got him so wondering whether there was a stipulation.

Probably not worth trying to be fair - we’d get docked another 10 points.

And we are still talking about the number of games he can play before triggering a £10m fee with less than 6 months to go before he walks at the end of his contract after taking £5.2m in wages from us. Unbelievable.

Let's be clear about this. He has shown willing (and who wouldn't at £5.2m a year) to make the effort but has he shown Everton any thanks for what they are doing for him? Has he, before his injury requiring surgery, shown any signs of the superb footballer of yesterday? I'm not sure but I don't think so but who knows. It is a guessing game but can we afford to indulge ourselves in such a game?

Of course we can't, so what the hell are we doing continuing with this facade??

If he gets right and plays surely Godfrey for Dele, straight swap. Everyone wins.

Just re read Lyndons piece, and as he states in the Spring he had a hip operation, which I was well aware of. Then in June he was the first through the door for pre season, so had recovered from his hip operation I presume. Then in early September Lyndon said Dele had a set back but doesnt mention what the injury was that caused the setback. So obviously I have missed the update as what the injury he picked up in September, so can you tell me what the injury is. As seeing he was never on the training ground at this time so I am puzzled to what injury he picked up.

A fit and happy Dele would be immense for Everton.

Take the money out of it, would you write what you do if he was on an annual salary of 30k and he was off work on long term sick?

I'd take that gamble once Dele has played the 6 games for sure. If he can sneak them in before end of January, then I'd snap their hand off for Dele over Godders. He's a shocking excuse for a footballer and only made it to the Premier League because he has pace.

Godfrey has the footballing brain of a 7yr old.

There’s no way Dele will play 6 games before the January window is out unless he makes 6 cameos as sub. And if he does that, how can he demonstrate that he’s back to his best? How is a club that’s as skint as ours and which might have to sell again in January, going to afford to pass up £20m

Some gambles are worth risking. This one isn’t. I wish Dele well but I think it will be somewhere else.

Nottingham Forest buy everyone - maybe they’ll have a vacancy (heavy irony).

We will never pay £10m after seeing 6 games for a player with minimal gametime over the last 12 months, who's best days were 4 years ago, who only has 6 months of his contract left, with no obligation to extend.

So, the conversation with Spurs is very simple:
'We all wanted it to work, it hasn't. We're not paying £10m at this point, so if it's non-negotiable, he'll rot in the reserves and you won't receive a penny (even if he puts in 6 MOTM performances...).

Renegotiate to £2.5-5m, and we'd be happy to play him in over 6 game (subject to performance). It gives him more of a chance to prove his worth to us, or potential to another club if we end up passing on him in the summer'

What would you rather, £0 or the chance to recoup at least £2.5m out of a player who has lost his way?

He went to Turkey and let’s be honest flopped and the Turkish club had quite enough of him not to mention their fans.

Paul you say you are convinced once Dele is fit he will start showing what an excellent footballer he is, Paul would you convinced enough to take a £10M gamble on him doing that, come on mate that’s taking compassion to the extent Jesus had!

Other fans would swap Ben Godfrey for Dele free of charge even though we could possibly get £15- £20M for Ben who is in need of a bit of compassion himself after breaking his leg and is possibly still suffering from the effects of Covid.

Consider Dele’s past by all means but let’s be sensible about the affair.

I don't care how much training and fitness he has I doubt he will ever be the player he was.

We should have done proper due diligence before being fleeced by Levy who has saved millions in wages at our expense.

I feel for what Dele has been through especially his brutal treatment by Mourhino but at least he is getting 5m a year and driving his rolls royce every day while some other poor sods are struggling to eat.

Probably Everton will hope he shows his fitness for a later transfer of sorts but we know he has ability and one hopes he may be of use before the end of the seaon in some form or other.

He's also only 27 so still has his peak years ahead of him. I would argue that the medical staff at Everton are doing their due diligence in getting him physically fit, and the managerial team in conjunction with the medical staff are doing theirs to get him mentally ready as well as up to speed on the playing front.

People are writing him off, or somehow blaming him for being mentally broken, and physically injured. Sympathy seems to go out the window purely on the basis of salaries people get. I don't care if you earn millions, or you're penniless, shit still scars human beings and fucks them up and injuries still stop you playing sport regardless of your bank balance.

He's got such talent. You can just see it. Sublime touch, so good on a ball. Hope he can contribute.

Without him hustling that ball down in the corner, we go down. I'll never say a bad word about this guy, he helped us survive and dodge absolute ruin.

James @57-

You don't lose that ability, ever. You might be rusty, but with hard work and dedication that talent resurfaces. I haven't put on skates in like 8 years. I guarantee within 1 minute on the ice, if I laced them up today, I'd skate circles around 99% of other human beings. These "skills" are like riding a bike. It comes back to you very, very quickly in my opinion.

Dele's issue is age. As above, I'd be fine on skates in about a minute. But... I'm 54, not 18. There is natural decline quite obviously. But even with that I think Dele's talent would be obvious within minutes of any return he made.

Barkley was head and shoulders above the Arsenal midfield. He was also impressive against the shite.

Perhaps the penny has dropped and he realises he needs to get on with what's left of his career before it's all over.

He did look seriously good last week

Those who are inclined. to send him packing, I think are not giving us a chance, as well as Dele.
We have a number of games in which we can play him, if our management team think he's worth it.

If has got rid of his mental injuries, as well as his physical injuries, then we might have another top class player in our squad.

If our management team don't think he can make that journey back to first class football, they'll look after him and help him set his sights to a level, he could return to.

We're not likely to be able to buy players of quality, yet we might have one of our own.

I think those who say, "get shut!" are being hasty, to say the least.

If we want a wild card we need to pick up a footballer who wants to kick on with his career. Look at Milner for the shite (I no he's moved now) look at William at Fulham also, he's there best player and fit week in week out, Thiago Silva at Chelsea.

There are quality players out there, we just need to find one with the right mentality, and ability.

I can see the PFA being involved at some stage regarding the player's well-being, in view of the fact he may be trapped in a contractual nightmare.

It's been a long time since Alli has shown that kind of work ethic and desire. Is it possible that he could? Yes. Does that mean it is likely that he will? No.

If he were prepared to stay and play for a £30k basic wage that doubles if he is starting every week, then perhaps that would be a discussion worth having. But paying him anywhere near his current wage for his current output is obviously untenable.

I would honestly prefer Josh Brownhill in the squad currently (and think there's a chance we might go for him in January as his contract is almost up and we're short of bodies in the middle, especially once Gana heads off).

The idea that sitting around whining gets you a much bigger pay packet than getting stuck in and potentially injured every week is not healthy for the rest of the squad.

The faster this remnant of the worst of the recent past is shovelled out of the door, the better.

I would be interested to see how Dyche deploys him and how he can motivate him.

For whatever reason he lost the desire to play football. He probably will never make the level he was at Spurs but we are in a position to view at first hand if he is worth the gamble.

His 45 min cameo v Palace saved the club 100s of millions. There is no doubt he has ability, can Dyche do what Mourinho couldn't?

We are desperate for a creative midfielder, a No 10, an experienced, skilful player we no longer have in our team. No one close in midfield, even Onana (who I think stands a good chance of being sold for £70M in January to meet PSR) doesn't create enough.

So… if he actually gets anywhere close to what he was, it will still be a huge improvement on what we have. For a song, it isn't much of a risk.

Suicidal because you were abused? Get a fookin grip lad.

I've seen some crap posts here over the years, but I can't think of a more comprehensive load of crap than that one. Amazing how much you piled into just three odiferous paragraphs.

Christine, he's wrong for all the wrong reasons. He hasn't the slightest idea what the guy's attitude is, and to put himself in Dyche's position as if he knows what he's talking about is just meltdown level of dense. Please don't sign on to any part of that.

A tad harsh there mate. Sometimes it's not what you say (or maybe mean) it's the way you say it. See Sam's post @ 73.

Everybody sometimes needs a 2nd chance, or at least the opportunity to take one if it's offered. Then it's up to them what they do with it.

It's not Dele's fault that, as a businessman, Levy is the sort that would turn fluffy kittens inside out for slippers.

From my perspective, it's a case of in a normal (forgotten) world where Everton FC have a good to top-notch team of high-quality players, Dele would be surplus to requirements, not worth the risk.

But we are not in that position, we have no top-notch players and Charles's comments, irrespective of our club's standing – but merely from a compassionate human position – are just dreadful and I roundly agree with you.

Of course, Dele deserves a second chance. I wish him all the luck in the world – but I think his future may lie elsewhere. We simply haven't got the money to take the risk.

If, as Christine points out, there is a possibility of having to sell someone like Onana to comply with P&S rules, how on earth is it sensible to gamble on Dele being able to regain his former form?

He doesn't have enough games left (6 or 7?) to prove he's worth shelling out £10M for – with a further substantial sum due a short distance down the line.

Based on what we've seen over the last 4 years, he won't be fit to play a full game and it's highly unlikely he would play 6 games even if there was no trigger payment.

It's more likely they'll see if they can get him fit and focused, with the chance of the odd cameo before the end of the season and then consider giving him a much-reduced contract when he's completely free.

That's exactly where I am as well... on a short-term contract as well. I didn't like him when he was good but business is business.

Let's face it, if – and that is still a big 'if' – he actually has turned a corner, then we have a grateful, talented and experienced, young, international. We have paid his wages for his recovery so he does owe us...