Everton: £100k-p/w Lampard signing may never play for the club again

The Merseyside outfit have had a turbulent relationship with one of their senior players at Goodison Park.

Everton are likely to soon sanction the sale of one of their out of favour senior players, and a reliable journalist has revealed the reasoning behind the move.

What’s happening at Everton right now?

In the Premier League, Sean Dyche’s side have had a hugely disappointing start to the new campaign where they find themselves in relegation on a single point after picking up just one draw and suffering four defeats from their opening five games.

The Toffees certainly haven’t been helped by the fact that Seamus Coleman and summer signing Jack Harrison are currently on the sidelines with their own respective injuries, but they aren’t the only ones who are yet to feature or make any kind of impact on the squad during the 2023/24 term.

Dele Alli has been the subject of attention since returning from his underwhelming loan spell at Besiktas. During an interview with Gary Neville for The Overlap podcast, the attacking midfielder opened up on the trauma he experienced throughout his childhood which affected him both on and off the pitch and is yet to return to action since then.

In conversation with The Times, Dyche admitted that the 27-year-old was still miles off being introduced to the squad because of his fitness problems, and with his contract expiring in less than a year, January would be the perfect opportunity for the club to cash in should they not want to risk losing him for free.

Is Dele Alli leaving Everton?

Speaking to GiveMeSport, Paul Brown admitted that Alli will likely never pull on the shirt again at Everton due to one condition in particular. He said:

“I don’t think Everton could have released him. I think that would have been very harsh. He’s obviously there training, but we don’t really know what his fitness is like and we don’t know how close he is to being ready for the first-team.

“I do still think it’s a long road back for him. I don’t think he suits Sean Dyche or the way that Sean Dyche is trying to move the team forward. They are in danger of triggering further payments if they play him, so there isn’t really a big argument for throwing him back in there.

“I think he’s obviously going to get a chance to compete but, at this point, I would be very surprised if Dele Alli plays for Everton in the near future. I think it’s more likely that he will never play for the club again, but we’ll see.”

Will Dele Alli return to Everton?

Since joining Everton in January 2022 as Frank Lampard’s first permanent signing, Alli has only made 13 appearances for the club, during which he’s recorded zero goals or assists, and members of the media believe it’s “sad” to see the way his career has panned out, so it’s unlikely that he will ever return for Everton.

The CAA Base Ltd client, who is sponsored by Adidas, ranked as the boss’ overall 28th best-performing player out of 28 squad members last season, albeit only being brought off the bench twice, via WhoScored, showing what little impact he makes when given the opportunity to play.

Furthermore, Alli currently pockets £100k-per-week which is the same amount that James Tarkowski, Amadou Onana and Dominic Calvert-Lewin earn and there’s no way that their pay should be equal considering what the latter three contribute, so Everton need to get him off the wage bill and use the extra money to fund new signings in 2024.