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What’s the story?
Manchester United and Chelsea have both spent heavily so far in this transfer window. However, the Premier League duo are not done with the market and according to the Daily Star, are preparing to battle for the services of Tottenham Hotspur superstar Dele Alli.
The English international was crowned PFA Young Player of the Year last season, as he played a pivotal role in the White Hart Lane outfit finishing 2nd last season.
The midfielder, who has a knack for scoring key goals, is currently on £60,000 per week at Spurs and knows that a move to one of Europe's biggest clubs would see him triple his wages at least. With this view, the 21-year-old is looking for a new agent, as he is considering cutting ties with his current agent - Rob Segal.
In case you didn’t know…
Dele Alli - who is currently valued at €82.6m - arrived at Tottenham Hotspur from MK Dons for a paltry sum of £5m, since then, the English international has developed into one of the best attacking midfielders in the country.
The 21-year-old has been awarded the PFA Young Player of the Year in the two seasons he has spent with the White Hart Lane outfit and was one of the standout performers in the league last season, contributing with 18 goals and 9 assists.
Manchester United have already invested heavily in Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof, while Chelsea have recruited Alvaro Morata, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Antonio Rudiger. However, the loss of a number of key first team players have left Chelsea with a paper thin squad.
Tottenham on the other hand, have lost Kyle Walker to Manchester City but have recently signed Davison Sanchez from Ajax in a club record deal.
The heart of the matter
Tottenham Hotspur have a very rigid wage structure, which has come under immense scrutiny this season. Alli earns £60,000 per week after renewing his contract last September and is some way off top earners Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris, who earn in the region of £110,000.
Chelsea and Manchester United can both easily offer Alli wages to the tune of £200,000 and the Spurs superstar knows this and hence wants to change agents in a bid to facilitate a move to one of the big clubs.
Not only that, other European giants including Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and even Barcelona are said to be interested in his services. However, according to the report Spurs currently maintain that Alli is not for sale.
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Author's Take
Alli is surely one of the best creative players in the Premier League at the moment and deserves the attention that he is getting. The 21-year-old should look to further his career and a move to one of Chelsea or Manchester United would be a good start towards this.
Earlier in the window, it was the Red Devils who pipped the Blues to the signing of Romelu Lukaku, will the Stamford Bridge outfit return the favour this time around?
