Only in the last few weeks, transfer rumours linking midfielder Dele Alli with a move away from White Hart Lane seemed to have died down. However, it has just emerged that Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale has advised the club to target Alli as a potential replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Spanish outlet Don Balon. Ronaldo is clearly coming to the end of his career, and Madrid will be starting to look at alternatives with the Portuguese at 32 years of age. Even though he remains the club’s top scorer even in the 2016-17 campaign, Ronaldo is not expected to carry on playing at the top level for long.
It is not easy to replace a player of his stature. For this reason, the club are believed to be considering their options even when Ronaldo is playing his best football. Dele Alli has been on the watch list of several European clubs after managing to come up with a string of great performances for Tottenham this season. Alli has been a major factor behind sustaining their place in the top four. He has scored 10 goals in the last 12 games for Spurs. There is a consensus that Alli would be scoring even more goals if he was playing in the Spanish league where competition from the lower clubs are significantly down compared to the Premier League.
Alli scored for a second consecutive league game after his late goal was influential in securing a 3-2 win over Everton during the weekend. This result was especially important with the club facing intense competition from the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United. Bale became a world-class player when he was at White Hart Lane. This led to the move to Real Madrid back in 2013 for a then-world record fee of £89 million. He has truly been worth of this extravagant fee, as he has scored in some key games – like the Champions League final. Now, it appears that Bale has recommended the Spanish club to go after Alli.
Spurs fans are unlikely to like this attitude, as the club are keen to build on for the future rather than sell their best players. Alli has been linked with a £50 million move to Madrid while Paris St-Germain are also interested in the England midfielder. However, if a potential sale was to occur, it is likely that the transfer fee would be in excess of £70 million going by the current form of Alli. Spurs, though, would want to keep the player and make sufficient progress in the Premier League while also regularly qualifying for the Champions League.
