Former Premier League manager Alex McLeish has suggested an Arsenal legend would be the ideal mentor for Tottenham Hotspur star Dele Alli.
Alli has been under the microscope again this week after being booked for diving in Spurs’ 4-0 win over Huddersfield last time out.
The midfielder is serving a one-game international ban for England after an ill-judged middle finger gesture he claimed was aimed at former Spurs teammate Kyle Walker as a joke.
Alli also has to sit out Tottenham’s opening three Champions League matches including the glamour away trip to Real Madrid after the international break.
The pattern of behaviour is undeniable.
But when Arsenal legend Ian Wright defended Alli on Sky Sports show The Debate while revealing his own battle with pent up anger as a player, it led to a left-field suggestion from former Birmingham and Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish.
“I was always really right on the edge and towards the end I had to go and see someone – and we’re talking Dele is 21 – I was still doing silly things in my 30s,” Wright told The Debate.
“The fact is I had a lot of oppression in my house when I was younger with my big brothers, my step-dad, my sister, I couldn’t get no aggression or anger out because everybody was always on top of me, I couldn’t do anything.
“And I found that it manifested itself when I was on the football pitch. I’d launch myself into someone and start a fight or something happened to me in Sunday football and it went with me into professional football as well.
“It was something that I had to go and see somebody about and once they told me where my triggers were coming from I was able to then think about them and deal with them and it helped me in the end… the words ‘channeling your aggression’ was the best thing ever for me.”
Wright said when he would feel the anger coming, rather than lash out or do something he would regret he would instead do something like chase down the back four relentlessly to expend his energy which in turn got the crowd up.
The Gunners legend’s fascinating insight then gave ex Rangers boss McLeish a novel idea.
“You could maybe be young Dele’s mentor,” McLeish suggested to which Wright responded “You think so?”
While the bitter rivalry between the clubs might make that a non-starter, surely if it benefited England in the long-term learning from someone like Wright, who has been there, done it and got the t-shirt would make sense.
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