‘No’: Paul Merson says 25-year-old won’t be spoken about at Tottenham in 25 years

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Paul Merson has stated that Dele Alli doesn’t have a legacy at Tottenham and he won’t be spoken about in 25 years time, as he told Sky Sports.

The 25-year-old left Tottenham for Everton on deadline day and ended a seven-year association with the north London club.

Signed as a fresh-faced teenager from MK Dons, Alli was showcasing David Platt and Frank Lampard vibes during the early stages of his career.

Those late intelligent runs, ability to control the ball like he had a Playstation controller in hand and then finishing like a seasoned striker were skills not many in his age group could claim to possess.

But, since then, the attack-minded midfielder hit brick wall after brick wall in his attempts to get back to his best.

Despite producing some memorable moments in Spurs colours, including his 20+ goals in one season from midfield, his brace against Chelsea or that volley at Selhurst Park.

Merson thinks that Alli’s name won’t be mentioned by the Tottenham faithful well after his career is finished.

“In my career, I’ve been fortunate,” said Merson. “I played for Middlesbrough 27 years ago and if you see a Boro fan they still talk about me.

“Same with a Portsmouth fan, an Aston Villa fan and an Arsenal fan. He’s got to leave that sort of legacy for himself now.

“Will they be talking about Alli at Spurs in 25 years? No.

“But now he’s got a chance to be talked about at Everton and you just hope he does well and gets that.”

It’s up to the Tottenham fans to decide whether or not they will talk about him in 25 years time, and in truth, he probably has done enough to be talked about.

It will probably be one of those things where they will reminisce about the magical moments he produced and those quite outstanding goals he scored.

But, unless he returns to Spurs one day, it will probably be a case of remembering him with a heavy heart and ‘what could have been’.

Of course, albeit not in Spurs colours, Alli has the chance to really showcase to the world that he can be one of the top midfielders in the Premier League by re-finding his form at Goodison Park.