Speaking on the Here We Go Podcast, Fabrizio Romano has shared why Dele Alli turned down the chance to join Newcastle on deadline day.
The Magpies made an eleventh hour approach for Alli, as reported at the time by David Ornstein, but by that time, he was already doing his Everton medical.
However, there’s nothing stopping a player just leaving their medical and heading to another club as there’s no signature on the contract at that point.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, Alli wasn’t keen on joining the Magpies due to the fact that the approach was so last-minute and they weren’t interested in him earlier in the window.
What’s Romano said about Alli?
The journalist shared what he knows about the midfielder.
“The big one is Dele Alli, because that is a permanent transfer. Let’s explain this transfer and also let’s explain what happened with Newcastle in those final hours. I am told that it’s true that they received the call from Newcastle while he was doing his Everton medical. He was in the hospital and the agents received a call asking about the situation of Dele Alli and Everton,” Romano said.
“That’s not the point, because It’s never too late to do business, but I’m told that the real point is that they were waiting for Newcastle for the whole window to do this Dele Alli deal, they were not interested on Newcastle’s side, and then in the last minute it was like ‘ok, when you need me in the last few minutes, you call me.’” Romano said.
Lesson learnt
This should act as a lesson for Newcastle.
Unless they have absolutely no interest at all in a player, they should stay diplomatic during the window, and not wait until the very final moments to make their move.
Perhaps if Newcastle had communicated to Alli’s camp that they’d be open to a late swoop earlier in the month, this could have come off, but United seemingly disrespected Alli a little bit by saying they had no interest, and we can’t blame him for not wanting this switch.
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