‘He’s suffered’: Ledley King says Dele Alli ‘misses’ 29-year-old no longer at Tottenham

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Ledley King has claimed that Dele Alli ‘misses’ the presence of Christian Eriksen in the Tottenham team, as he told the Kelly and Wrighty Show.

The Spurs legend shared that Alli, who has been out-of-sorts for a number of years now, has ‘suffered’ in the Dane’s absence.

Eriksen left Tottenham for Inter Milan during the January transfer window of 2020, and after a tough start, he eventually went on to win the Serie A title.

Unfortunate circumstance for the 29-year-old during the Euros in the summer, now means that he is currently unable to play on health grounds, but hopefully the quick-thinking playmaker will be back on that pitch in next to no time.

For a number of years now, towards the back end of Mauricio Pochettino’s reign, under Jose Mourinho and now under Nuno Espirito Santo, it has been a struggle for Alli and King thinks Eriksen’s absence has played a part.

“For me, it’s up to Dele and how much he wants to get out of himself,” said King. “They have played 4-2-3-1 enough times and he can be the third guy centrally.

“But his game is about arriving in the box. The timing. That’s his gift. Timing and finishing. I have said before that, he misses Eriksen a little bit in the team.

“He was someone who could find and play that pass from a distance. I am not sure any of the other midfield players can pick out his runs like the same way he did, unless it’s Harry Kane dropping deep.

“I think he has suffered with that a little bit and now he has got to find a way to get back and improve his game. But it has been a tough few years for him.”

The problem facing Alli is that, after Spurs suffered three defeats on the bounce in the Premier League, he was dropped to the bench for the win against Aston Villa before the international break.

He was an unused substitute during that game, as Alli will be feeling it’s deja vu x 2 in North London for him.

Before Pochettino was sacked, Alli was out of the side, struggling for form and minutes.

He started well under Mourinho, before it went pear shaped pretty quickly, and once again, he was struggling for form and minutes.

The same thing has happened under Nuno, including scoring the winner at Wolves earlier on in the campaign, but now he is searching for that form and those minutes again.