Manchester City have sent shockwaves down the spine of English football as reports suggest that they are willing to break the world-record to bring Tottenham Hotspur’s superstar Dele Alli to the Etihad. An intra-club transfer in the same league between two title rivals, especially in England has slowly ceased to exist with the last big one being Robin Van Persie to Manchester United but Arsenal weren’t really challenging for the title then.
This deal, if it gains some leverage and evolves into something concrete, is really going to be something extraordinary and while all the details such as fee and utility and chemistry come into the scene later on, the sheer canvas space this transfer encapsulates is something which is itself extremely exciting and awe-inspiring.
Coming back to Manchester City, the team as a unit is slowly gelling and after an initial euphoria and the subsequent energy of Pep Guardiola coming in, which resulted in a 10-match winning streak at the start of the season, the displays coming from the team now are seemingly more stable and long-lasting. The Catalan has been at pains to point out the level of difficulty associated with this task and the amount of change and the quantity of time needed to form a team and make it play in the way he wants it to.
Guardiola had the likes of Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta in midfield at Barcelona and in contrast against Everton where they lost 0-4, he had to deploy a 32-year old Pablo Zabaleta and a 33-year old Yaya Toure in midfield. While the manager cannot be expected to always have the support of a world class players to back his tactics, City are in clear need to upgrade.
The midfield does not look like a Pep Guardiola midfield by any means. Fernandinho has impressed but his latest antics have befuddled many. Yaya still has class but the legs are too heavy after such a long time while Fernando and Delph are backups at best. Gundogan was brought to add a touch of class but his injury made sure that wasn’t going to happen.
But Pep has shown that he is not willing to go back for players he has already worked with and has shown that he is ready to embrace the future and build a new project at City, with youth the face of the massive overhaul. Dele Alli fits the bill as far as youth and quality are concerned.
Alli joined Spurs in the summer of 2015, six months after the North Londoners signed him and during the time, he was playing for his former club MK Dons on loan as a part of the deal. Injuries to then key players Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason at Tottenham opened the door for him to first-team football and once he got that, he made sure that Pochettino found no reason to drop him.
Alli is more of a complete midfielder who would slot into any of the midfield or advanced midfield options Guardiola utilises in his team. He can play as a number eight, number ten or a number six and has a brilliant eye for goals. He regularly manages to find pockets of space behind defenders and is a pretty hard-working player too.
He will be an exciting addition to the scheme of things at City and if Pep and the club can pull this deal off, the Sky Blues will easily become one of the most feared teams in Europe. Put bluntly but it is something their rivals are aware of.
