In The Money: Tottenham must accept £10m+ financial hit after Dele Alli development at Everton
Tottenham must surely now accept they are not going to recoup any money for Dele Alli after Everton reportedly rejected the club’s latest proposal.
Dele joined Everton on a free contract in January 2022, but Spurs included various clauses in the contract they assumed would be triggered over the length of the two-and-a-half-year deal.
If each of those various financial conditions were triggered, the deal would potentially land the Lilywhites a tidy £40million sum [Sky Sports].
Nearly two years on from that initial transaction, though, and Tottenham are still waiting to land any sort of payment.
Dele has yet to feature for Everton since returning from a loan spell with Besiktas in the summer, leaving him on just 13 appearances for the club.
The former England international has to play 20 times before Everton must hand over the first £10m payment – so just seven more outings.
That likely explains the Toffees’ reluctance to play Dele, who is currently on the comeback trail from injury, which has led to a stand-off of sorts.
According to The Times [9 December], Spurs tried to renegotiate terms with Everton that would see them pay £8m for a reduced number of appearances.
However, it is claimed that the Toffees rejected that offer, which may have reduced the financial burden on them but would have made a payout more likely.
That makes Everton’s stance pretty clear, and means that chairman Daniel Levy can surely say goodbye to any sort of payment for Dele.
It could easily be argued that Spurs have saved £12.5m in wages by getting Dele off their books when they did, given the midfielder was being paid £100,000 a week, not including various extra costs such as medical bills [The Times].
That is a far too positive spin on the situation, though, because Levy surely could have got a minimal payment for Dele at the time he joined Everton.
The potential £40m payment seemed great on the face of it, but Spurs will effectively be receiving nothing now if this situation pans out the way many expect.
Levy, whose reputation as a stubborn negotiator is known the world over, will surely now be questioning why he did not hold out for a £10m upfront payment for Dele – even if it meant waiting until that summer – on top of getting his £15.2m-a-year wages off the books.
Dele is out of contract at Goodison Park in the summer, at which point he will become a free agent. Whoever picks him up then, or perhaps even in January if Everton sever ties, it will make Levy sick at the thought of losing multiple millions on him.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs look as though they could miss out on a mega windfall after events over the past week.