Danny Murphy believes Dele Alli needs a ‘ruthless’ manager to get his career back on track – and Sean Dyche can be the man to do it.
Alli is becoming one of football’s tragic figures having seen his career plummet from the huge success he achieved early on, including two straight PFA Young Player of the Year awards when he was at Tottenham.
His career is in a state of limbo following an unsuccessful loan spell at Turkish club Besiktas while his future at parent club Everton is uncertain.
There’s no questioning the talent the player possesses but the conundrum that a growing list of managers face is how to bring it out of Alli again.
It’s been suggested Alli could reunite with Mauricio Pochettino, who was part of his best years when in charge of Spurs, at Chelsea.
But Murphy believes there’s still a future for Alli on Merseyside and that Toffees boss Dyche is able to revive his form.
When asked if Dyche would be a good for Alli, Murphy said on Drive: “I’d say yes. He won’t take any nonsense, but he’ll also help him a little bit.
“I’m not suggesting you have to do one or the other all the time… I think Sean Dyche’s got it in him to occasionally put his arm around him and help him along.
“My gut feeling is where Dele Alli’s come from, what I’ve heard about the upbringing he’s had and the type of lad he is, I do think he needs a bit of love.
“But I think more importantly he needs a ruthless manager who’s going to really push him and kick him up the backside.”
Murphy also shed light into how former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier helped enhance his own career but reminded Alli the road to redemption is a joint effort.
Murphy added: “Gerard Houllier gave me a carrot at Liverpool and some help on how to get it.
“I needed to be fitter, he helped with it. I needed to change my lifestyle away from the club, he helped me do it. I moved out of Chester, talked to him about it. I went on the Wirral, nice and quiet, got away from certain people, things, temptations, started looking after myself, started doing more work, did some more work with my fitness guy.
“But I still had to apply myself to do it. You can’t wait for someone to get you back on the rails but you do need some help along the way.
“Moving all that aside, do I think he will reach the heights of before? I don’t think so. I think it’s too far back to come. I still think he can have a decent career in the game. He’s got to be looking for a Premier League club.”
As well as bad form on the pitch, issues off the pitch have blighted the career of Alli, but Murphy sent a reminder to fans that there may be more than meets the eye to the England international’s decline.
Murphy continued: “There could be some things that happened to him on that journey that we don’t know about.
“For example, when I was at Tottenham my dad got terminally ill and I was spending probably the last three months with him so I wasn’t playing football.
“And when I was struggling at Tottenham I had to leave in the end because I couldn’t get myself going. Perspective managers were asking my agent what was happening.
“The point I’m making with Dele Alli is he could’ve been through some things we don’t know and he doesn’t want to talk about.
“But there comes a point where you have to have some resilience and desire to get back to doing what you love doing.”