UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifiers: 4 England World Cup stars whose international careers could be over

#2 Dele Alli

Dele Alli feels like the odd man out now that England have switched to a 4-3-3 formation

When he burst onto the scene at Tottenham Hotspur back in 2015 as a fresh-faced 19-year old and then scored a spectacular goal on his first start for England in a friendly against France, it felt like the sky was the limit for Dele Alli. For most fans, the Three Lions likely had a superstar to build their team around for the next decade.

That hasn’t quite happened, though. Alli’s England career started well enough despite his involvement in the disastrous Euro 2016 campaign, and he started all but two of England’s games in their 2018 World Cup, scoring their second goal in their quarter-final win over Sweden. Since then, though, things haven’t gone to plan. Hamstring injuries have been partially to blame, but the bigger issue has come with Alli’s best position on the pitch.

Alli tends to do his best work playing off a central striker – Harry Kane at Tottenham – and making late runs into the penalty box to score and create goals. He’s played in that “hole” before for England and was largely used in a similar way during the World Cup, but since then both England and Tottenham have switched formations and taken to using wide forwards to compliment the central striker instead.

For England, that’s left Alli competing with the likes of Ross Barkley, Mason Mount and James Maddison for a spot as the team’s creative hub, and despite all his talents that just isn’t his best position. With Tottenham also predominantly using wide forwards like Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura, Alli has essentially become the odd man out.

It came as no surprise then, when he was left out of Southgate’s most recent squad. At 23 years old, it’s probably unfair to state that his international career is over – but if England continue to use their current system, that could shockingly be the case. And if it is, there could be an argument that his amazing talents have been largely wasted by the Three Lions.