Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has made a bold claim about Tottenham star Dele Alli, saying that the player is capable of scoring more than him. Now, that’s one big claim considering the player that Frank Lampard was.
Lampard was an absolute monster at Chelsea and has scored 211 goals for the Blues in 648 appearances. He made a total of 913 career appearances including spells at West Ham United, Swansea City, Chelsea, Manchester City and New York City, and has scored 274 goals in total. Considering that he played as a midfielder, the numbers are insane.
The fact that a player like Frank Lampard has spoken about Alli itself is a huge feather in the cap for the young Tottenham star and it is bound to increase the weight of expectations on his shoulders.
Dele Alli has already scored 53 goals in his career, with 29 of them coming for Tottenham. With MK Dons, his previous club, he played in the less competitive league in League One. The step up to Premier League does not seem to have fazed him and he has only improved his goal scoring standards. The midfielder has been linked with a £50m swoop by Real Madrid since the start of the January transfer window.
His 16 goals are more than any other midfielder in the league this season and Lampard has heaped praise on the England international. Lampard was quoted:
“Dele Alli is a special player. He is better than me when I was 20, that’s for sure. He is like a second striker at the moment but I think that makes sense because the way they play, with the quality in and around the box, he needs to be up there all the time. He’s got the knack for runs, he scores great goals like he did yesterday.”
“Seeing goals that he scored in the week against Swansea, he was running in the six-yard box. Too many attacking midfield players get towards the penalty spot and then stop and don’t go that extra mile but there’s so many goals to be had. But he does.”
Lampard believes that Alli can go on to break his tally of 177 goals – the most by any midfielder in Premier League history. He said:
“Could he score more than me? He could do. Of all the midfield players I’ve seen who scores goals, he’s the one who is the best at it. Those numbers are great. We’re watching him every week, he’s got all the ability it’s just how he goes now. Not just what he does on the pitch but off the pitch, the people around him, how he grows as a player but with that – as a starting point at 20 years of age, he’s got the world at his feet.”
The Tottenham star is odds on to take home the PFA Young Player of the Year award for a second straight season. If he manages to win the award, it would see a Spurs player winning the award for the 5th time in the last 6 seasons.
Goes on to show Tottenham’s phenomenal rise in stature!
