Craig Burley has made it clear that he ‘wouldn’t’ sign Tottenham midfielder, Dele Alli, if he was Newcastle United, as he told ESPN.
The former Scotland international has claimed that he would ‘trust’ Jesse Lingard doing the business for Newcastle over the out-of-sorts Tottenham player.
Whether the Manchester United and Spurs duo end up at St James’ Park or not, it does seem as though they will be heading for the exit door of their respective clubs this month.
Lingard was on-loan at West Ham last season and he did the business for the London side, so it would be understandable if there is more interest in him than Alli.
For the former MK Dons player, 25, it has been years and years of decline in north London and he needs to move on in order to recharge his career.
But with the Magpies in a relegation dogfight, Alli is a player that Burley wouldn’t be knocking for during the final week of the transfer window.
“I wouldn’t buy him,” said Burley. “I wouldn’t buy him if I was trying to get into the top four and I wouldn’t buy if I was trying to get out of a relegation dogfight.
On just getting him on loan: “There are others I would rather get in. There is talk of Lingard who if we remember the job he did at West Ham.
“He went there, rolled his sleeves up and he was brilliant for them. I would trust him to do a better job than Dele Alli, at the moment.”
From Newcastle’s perspective, it does seem as though the door is open if they want Alli to don their colours by the end of the month.
Antonio Conte left the player out of his recent matchday squad even though he was fit and available.
That’s a sign that the Italian doesn’t see him as part of his plans and it’s just a case of those upstairs getting a deal agreed for him to leave.
If he does leave, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if it’s a loan deal rather than a permanent one because signing him straight-up, at this moment in time, would be a risk because of his lack of form.
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