Dele Alli on diving, his difficult childhood and our chances in the World Cup

He’s England’s most naturally gifted midfielder and one of the Premiership’s most controversial players...
Richard Godwin7 July 2018

It’s easy to forget that Dele Alli is only 22.

When he ghosted into the Tottenham midfield in 2015, he played with such athleticism, such culture, such insouciance, you’d have mistaken him for a £50 million recruit from AC Milan — as opposed to a gawky teenager bought from Milton Keynes Dons for £5 million (some way off the £198 million Paris Saint-Germain paid for Neymar last summer). ‘I always played with no fear,’ is how he puts it. ‘When I played as a kid, it was always with the older boys. It wasn’t unusual for me to be coming up against men.’

And watching him pose for ES in a Hawaiian shirt and chinos, there’s a similar effect. It’s the way he carries himself. There’s a self-possession about him, an old-before-his-years confidence, a switchblade charm concealing a hint of menace. For just beyond his outrageous talent is a definite petulant streak, the sort that gets opposition fans red in the face, referees reaching for yellow cards and armchair psychologists pointing to a difficult childhood back in Milton Keynes.

Dele Alli

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‘He is a clever boy. He is a little bit nasty,’ as Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, once put it.

But often there’s a reminder that he’s really just that — a boy. The tattoo of Bamm-Bamm from The Flintstones that he recently had inked on his arm. Or his off-field tastes: the blacked-out Bentley that vaguely resembles a Batmobile; the cultural tastes that run the gamut from Call of Duty to FIFA 18. How does he get along with Tottenham and England talisman Harry Kane?

‘We’re very different. But we play a lot of PlayStation.’ Seen any good boxsets recently? ‘I’m mostly addicted to PlayStation at the minute.’ He usually plays the football games as Tottenham, by the way, but sometimes as Real Madrid with which he has repeatedly been linked for outlandish sums of money, so make of that what you will. ‘When you’re playing with friends it gets really competitive, so you have to pick the best team! And the Dele Alli on FIFA isn’t very good. They’ve underestimated me.’

It’s a sheltered life, being a modern pro. ‘There’s a lot that people don’t know about me,’ he says. ‘But a lot of people seem to think they know about me.’

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We’re talking at a photo studio in a less-than-glamorous area of north London a couple of days after Dele — it is always just ‘Dele’, as evidenced by the back of his Tottenham and England shirts — has returned from England international duty. He arrives with Harry Hickford, a former MK Dons team-mate who is now his manager and who he introduces simply as ‘my brother’.

Dele seems a little twitchy, having played a grand total of 22 minutes of two World Cup warm-up games against Holland and Italy. After his explosive goal-scoring debut against France in 2015, there was talk of building the entire England team around him; then for a while he seemed to be disappearing from manager Gareth Southgate’s plans (ultimately, of course, he made the cut). Was he ever worried? ‘I have to take that as a positive,’ he says. ‘A couple of years ago, I didn’t have an England cap, and now for people to comment when I don’t play can only be a good thing. It shows how far I’ve come since I signed for Tottenham.’ World Cups were among the genuinely happy memories of his childhood: ‘Everyone putting England flags in their cars, people in their gardens having barbecues, music playing everywhere. What I liked was how it brought the country together.’ He hopes the current group of players can do the same. ‘I’m over the moon to be selected for the World Cup squad, it’s what you dream of as a kid. We’ve got a great manager and an ambitious young squad. I’m confident we can have a successful tournament.’

An upbeat spin. But it’s fair to say that this has been a challenging season for Dele. In his first two seasons in the Premier League, he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year two years in a row, won the BBC’s Goal of the Season for a peach of a flick-spin-and-volley against Crystal Palace, and propelled an exciting young Tottenham side into the Champions League spot recently vacated by arch-rivals Arsenal. ‘We’ve got Alli / Dele Alli / I just don’t think you understand / He only cost 5 mil / He’s better than Ozil / We’ve got Dele Alli!’ sing the faithful. There have been more highs this year: not least netting twice against Real Madrid in the Champions League, and the two goals that propelled Tottenham to their first away victory against Chelsea since 1990. That game also marked his 100th game for the club, during which time he has scored 36 and assisted 25: more than Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, David Beckham or Frank Lampard at that stage of their careers.

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But there have also been dips in form, off-pitch distractions and disciplinary issues. Diving, for one, has become a bit of a thing with Deli Alli — or ‘Divey Alli’ as Gary Lineker called him on Twitter. There are memes aplenty of his celebratory ‘Fortnite’ dance, but social media abounds with compilations of Dele performing double pikes and somersaults, rolling over and raising a pleading hand at the referee — and there’s much moralising on Match of the Day about how diving just isn’t the ‘English way’ (neither is his close control and cultured passing, but there are no complaints about that).

Why does he think people get so annoyed about it? ‘It’s a matter of opinion, isn’t it?’ Dele says, diplomatically. ‘Some people reckon it’s cheating, some people don’t. What matters is what the people around me think: my family, my friends, my team-mates, the manager…’ Sure, but haven’t your managers pulled you up on it? He has received three yellow cards for his theatrics — more than any other Premier League player. ‘They know I’m not a cheat,’ he maintains. Yeah, but doesn’t it get to you? ‘I wouldn’t say it gets to me,’ he says, trying not to let it get to him — I mean, it’s more frustrating when you hear former players talk about it…’

He circles back to a recent incident vs Crystal Palace. ‘I saw a lot of people talk about that, including Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer. The midfielder kneed the ball down and the keeper came out… I stretched for it and my next step was going to land in his ribs, so I had to pull out instead of stamping on him. There’s moments where you only have a split second to think and you’d think they’d understand that.’

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It’s one reason that Dele hasn’t been clasped to the bosom of English fans in the same way as his Boy’s Own teammate Kane — that and his occasional tendency to raise a finger at a teammate or kick out at an opponent (his foul on Sanchez against Man Utd in January causing particular uproar). But these rehearsed outrages must all seem a bit trivial compared to the drama he’s gone through growing up. He smiles ruefully. ‘I’ve learned not to take anything for granted. I get to have football as a job. But you have to fight for things in life.’

Dele was born Bamidele Jermaine Alli in Bradwell, a rough neighbourhood of Milton Keynes. His family situation, the subject of much tabloid attention, is ‘all a bit complicated’. He had little family support from his birth parents — who he won’t talk about — and got into trouble as a child. ‘I got into the wrong crowd from an early age,’ he says of falling in with gangs and getting involved in crime. ‘Football was a great distraction from the path I was heading down. I’m very lucky to have met people who helped through the hardest of times and have helped me grow into the person I am today.’ Dele spent a great deal of time playing football outside his estate, clocking up the requisite 10,000 hours on a cramped concrete pitch. ‘There was a car park where I used to go and play with my friends using bikes for goalposts,’ he says. ‘I think you can see that in my game. I used to watch YouTube tricks and then try them out.’

It was clear from early on that he had talent. At the age of eight he played for MK Rangers, progressed to City Colts Boys, and was signed by Milton Keynes Dons aged 10. It was at this time that he became friends with Hickford, who had also been signed by MK Dons. Hickford’s parents often took him to matches and had him round for tea afterwards, and before long Dele was living with them three days a week. By the time he was 13 he moved in full-time, and while the Hickfords never officially adopted him, they provided much-needed stability. It is for this reason that Dele ditched his surname. ‘It was a decision that had to be made,’ is all he will say on the subject.

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Dele and Hickford Jr are clearly very close. Hickford is now his day-to-day manager. ‘I never saw a kid as good when he was younger,’ he gushes of his friend. ‘He’d want to take the goal-kick and then he’d want to run up and score the goal. When he hit puberty, he went through a dip. All the lads were growing a lot quicker than him. They were a lot stronger. But by the time he hit 15, he’d learned to deal with that. And then, suddenly, he went through a growth spurt and he was unstoppable…’

‘I was a late bloomer,’ Dele grins.

Family is not the only unconventional aspect of Dele’s life. He parted company with his agent, Rob Segal, last year, and has a commercial partnership with Creative Artists Agency Sports (which also manages Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane and José Mourinho) and The Sports PR Company, which is charged with building his ‘global brand’.

With regards to his image, he is partial to Amiri jeans — something of a favourite among footballers — plus Gucci and Adidas. ‘I like to look good. Even in games if you look good, you feel good, and sometimes you can play a bit better.’ What was the last book he read? ‘I was that guy in school who everyone rolled their eyes at when I was asked to read aloud; I sound like a robot,’ he laughs. It put him off. ‘I prefer to watch films. [Tottenham teammate] Eric Dier always tells me I should read more.’ He reckons if it wasn’t for football he’d have ended up as a fireman.

And while he claims to like all the things any red-blooded 22-year-old likes, the sheer volume of games, plus the amount of money riding on them mean there isn’t much scope for off-pitch activities. ‘You have to live your life by football and do everything you can to recover between games — and there are a lot of games in a season.’ Eating out (under nutritional advice) is about the only uncontroversial activity open to him.

Dele is dating Dolce & Gabbana Instastar Ruby Mae who, he says, often calls the shots in terms of what restaurants they go to. ‘I like sushi, so I like Novikov in Mayfair. And Roka, also in Mayfair. Obviously it’s a bit different from what I’m used to in Milton Keynes.’ Which is? ‘TGI Fridays! And we’d go to Nando’s all the time. I still love a Nando’s.’ He has been dating Mae for a couple of years. What would she say his best quality is? ‘I’m funny, I think? I’m nice. I’m a good guy. I’m down to earth. I’m not sure what she’d say.’ What scares him? ‘I hate anything paranormal. When I was about seven or eight, I remember sitting on the swing outside my school looking at the bushes and seeing the Scream mask coming out of them.’

He has been linked with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Man Utd repeatedly — outlandish nine-figure sums are often mentioned — but it sounds like he’s willing to stick around and see the unveiling of Tottenham’s humongous new stadium next season.

Ruby May and Dele Alli
Getty Images

‘I’d never say never to anything. But you can’t look into the future too much as it takes the pleasure out of now. I’ve still got a few years on my contract.’ Surely it’s more satisfying playing with your mates than sitting on the bench at Real Madrid? ‘Sitting on the bench?’ he mutters in mock outrage. ‘Yeah. Well, all the players can see the way the club’s heading. We’ve got a young team, a young manager, a new stadium, so it’s a great place to be at the minute. But you never know what’s going to happen in football.’

Photographs by Neil Bedford

Styled by Steph Wilson

Grooming by Emma Osborne @ One Represents using Trust Organic Skincare.

Fashion assistant: Celine Sheridan

This article was originally published on June 7 and has been republished in light of England advancing through to the World Cup semi-finals.

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