Pundit Micah Richards compares Dele Alli to Daniel Sturridge

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Tottenham Hotspur’s Dele Alli has endured a difficult year or so.

It’s fair to say that Tottenham Hotspur’s Dele Alli is still searching for his best form; and arguably, has been since the start of last season.

Alli, 23, was an absolute sensation when he first joined Spurs from MK Dons in 2015, and his record for the club after three seasons was frankly remarkable.

In 146 games for Spurs, Alli had hit 46 goals and 41 assists, establishing himself as a starter for England at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup whilst earning a huge £100,000-a-week contract with Spurs (Spotrac).

However, Alli was limited to 38 appearances last season, notching seven goals and eight assists, and he’s yet to register any sort of attacking return so far this term.

The attacking midfielder has suffered injury after injury in recent times, particularly to his hamstring, and the stop-start nature of the last year seems to have caused him to plateau as a player.

Alli has now been dropped by England for their games against Czech Republic and Bulgaria, with the likes of Mason Mount and James Maddison now leapfrogging him ahead of Euro 2020.

That’s a nightmare for Alli, and as he desperately searches for his best form at Spurs again, pundit Micah Richards has compared the Tottenham ace to ex-Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

Richards, speaking to BBC Radio Five Live, suggested that Alli has too much stress in his body and is trying to protect himself from injury again just like Sturridge did after a host of setbacks, noticing that he’s not running freely anymore, but thinks he’s unfairly becoming a scapegoat at Spurs.

“I just think that he’s obviously had his injuries, he’s similar to Daniel Sturridge when he had his hip injury,” said Richards. “He seemed as though he wasn’t really sprinting, just in case something went. Just because you’re back training, doesn’t mean you’re back fit – you have to get match fit. At times, they’ve thrown him in a little bit too soon. He’s not played well, he’s almost like the scapegoat at times.”

“I would sympathise with him, only because he’s still carrying knocks. For me, he’s not fully fit yet. It just feels like with Dele at the moment, he’s got a lot of stress in his body, he’s trying to protect himself, he’s not running free-flowing, he’s not the Dele Alli that we’ve all seen, he’s not the third man running and arriving into the box,” he added.