Former Man United manager Jose Mourinho
Former Man United manager Jose Mourinho
West Ham United have allowed Dele Alli to train with the first-team in a bid to prove his fitness.
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The former Tottenham midfielder has seen his career prospects nose dive since leaving Spurs in 2022.
He had an injury-hit two-year spell with Everton, where he made just 13 Premier League appearances, plus an underwhelming loan spell with Besiktas.
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The ex-England international signed for Cesc Fabregas' Como in 2025 but was sent off just minutes after coming on as a substitute for his debut, which would prove to be his only appearance for the Serie A club.
Dele is now without a club but keen to reignite his career in England.
According to talkSPORT, the Hammers have offered him the chance to train at Rush Green and are considering offering him a contract if he can prove his fitness.
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Dele Alli could prove to be a shrewd signing
Dele's mental health struggles in recent years have been well documented.
In an interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap, Dele revealed that he was sexually abused at the age of six, turned to drug dealing by the age of eight and spent six weeks in rehab following his loan spell in Turkey due to an addiction to sleeping pills.
He has evidently struggled with his childhood trauma in recent years, which is led to his very promising career stalling.
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During his seven seasons with Tottenham, the midfielder scored 67 goals in 269 appearances and was often labelled as one of the best players in the world.
But the 30-year-old has struggled with his game in recent seasons, returning to England with West Ham in the Championship might just provide the perfect conditions for him to revive his career.
West Ham are in need of more creativity in attack and offering the chance for Dele to play regularly each week could give Nuno Espirito Santo exactly what he needs.
The only way Dele can get his career back on track is if he's playing regular first-team football and given the responsibility to be an attacking threat.
Given what he's achieved at the highest level in previous years, he has proven that he can be a very dangerous attacking option when he's on form.
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It's also clear the midfielder is ready to focus on his game again after a difficult few years, according to former Salford City boss Karl Robinson who bumped into Dele while holidaying in Marbella.
Robinson was Dele's manager at MK Dons before he was signed by Tottenham in 2015.
Speaking to talkSPORT recently, he said: "We spoke just about football in general, about how well he feels and how wants to get himself back playing and how he seeks an opportunity.
"At the end of the day, if he is given this opportunity and he goes into West Ham and hits the ground running, they know they're going to have such a talented footballer.
"But that's down to him. It's not down to anybody else now.
"I think it's about him just putting his boots back on and doing something that he loves."
Robinson's comments about Dele are encouraging.
It's clear he is ready to prove that he's still got the talent that was on show weekly in the Premier League for Spurs.
If he's given the opportunity to do that with West Ham, it might just be the confidence boost he needs.
Mourinho was once urged to sign Dele Alli
One of the biggest indicators of Dele's former reputation is Sir Alex Ferguson's admiration of the midfielder's ability.
The 13-time Premier League winning manager once told Jose Mourinho to sign him when the Portuguese was in charge at Old Trafford.
Indeed, he was never able to make that happen but Mourinho did end up managing the midfielder at Tottenham.
It was there that Mourinho criticised Dele for his laziness during an All or Nothing episode, but in the same breath encouraged him to work harder in order to fulfil his very clear potential.
So many managers and pundits have praised Dele's natural ability in the past.
Former Spurs boss once labelled him as Europe's best player, as well as one of the best players in the world.
In 2017, Frank Lampard described the midfielder as a 'special player,' while a year later his Spurs teammate Harry Kane called him as a 'game changer.'
Harry Kane, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Eric Dier and Kyle Walker have all been very complimentary of Dele's footballing ability over the last 10 years.
Do you think signing Dele Alli is worth it? Could he revive his career in east London? Should we avoid him? Let us know in the comments below...