Former Super Eagles prospect Dele Alli was pictured with Nigeria national football team midfielder Alex Iwobi in Everton's training ahead of the new Premier League season.
The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has had a turbulent few years thanks to unresolved off-field issues that affected his mental health and eventual on-field performance. He was expected to leave Everton this summer with reports claiming that the Toffees are looking for suitors for him.
His being pictured with a new number and Alex Iwobi welcoming him back to the squad has now quashed those rumours.
Alli now looks ready to return to football.
Dele Alli has been pictured back in training looks delighted as boss Sean Dyche who patted him on the back and smiled
The level of excitement from Tottenham fans over potential new signing Micky van de Ven gone up a notch after a video of his incredible pace surfaced online. pic.twitter.com/CDRHgApgHP
— Lilian Chan (@bestgug) August 4, 2023
Alex Iwobi performs welcoming committee role at Everton
Alex Iwobi, who won Everton's player of the year after a good performance from the midfield last season, has been playing the role of chief welcoming officer for the Toffees this season.
He has been pictured in happy circumstances with all his returning teammates and his new teammates. The most recent images of him sees him fraternising with Dele Alli, who was on the verge of having his career end.
The former Super Eagles prospect revealed that family and personal issues stalled his career and moving to Turkey did not provide the catharsis he thought it would. He alluded to unresolved childhood trauma and his stint as a delinquent who dealt with drugs and sleeping pills to get by.
I’m struggling to find the words to put with this post but please watch my most recent interview with Dele. It’s the most emotional, difficult yet inspirational conversation I’ve ever had in my life. Watch the interview on @wearetheoverlap here https://t.co/60d4IZwQmR pic.twitter.com/0cZowJGW77
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 13, 2023
He seems fully healed and ready for action and Super Eagles man, Alex Iwobi, has done the honours of welcoming him back into the fold.
Iwobi posed with Alli and new acquisition Ashley Young in their latest training pictures and all looked in high spirits.
Dele Alli will wear the number 20 for Everton this season. It is the number he rose to prominence with at Tottenham Hotspur. Many believe this is a way to help the player regain his on-field confidence ahead of the new season.
The pictures released of Dele Alli in training with Alex Iwobi and the rest of his teammates are the first pictures of him in training with them during the pre-season.
He has been preparing on his own while the team competed to get their match fitness.
He will hope to impress enough to be considered ready for their first match in the coming weeks.
Alex Iwobi: Dele Alli isn't a training player
Alex Iwobi may be welcoming the 27-year-old former Real Madrid transfer target back to Everton's training grounds but he will be doing so with high expectations.
In May, the former Arsenal man revealed why Alli failed to make his mark in Everton when he first showed up.
“With him, he will say it himself, he isn’t a training player. Unless it’s a match in training and then you see Dele perform,” Alex Iwobi said on a podcast where he appeared as a guest.
“When it comes to training matches, he is a joke. When it comes to drills – he tries, but because he’s slow with it. When it comes to games, he will score and assist or something. It was hard for him to play.
“If you’re not just doing it in training, and at the time, the manager needed reliable players. He couldn’t really put his trust in him. We all know Dele could have performed.”
For Alex Iwobi, this will be Dele Alli's final chance to make something of his Everton career.
This article was most recently revised and updated 2 months ago
