Dele Alli is poised to leave Como with immediate effect after just six months at the Italian club, but has no plans to end his playing career.
Dele, 29, joined Como as a free agent in January after his contract at Everton expired in June 2024. The former Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder signed an 18-month contract at the Serie A side but is set to depart with a year remaining on his deal after failing to settle under head coach Cesc Fabregas.
Contrary to reports in Italy, Dele is not planning to retire from playing on leaving Como.
He made just one appearance, playing 10 minutes as he was shown a red card after coming on as an 80th-minute substitute in the 2-1 defeat to AC Milan in March.
The two-time PFA young player of the year has not featured in any of Como’s three pre-season friendlies and has struggled to maintain consistent game time after his departure from Spurs in January 2022.
He has since had spells at Everton and Turkish side Besiktas but has not played more than 20 games in a season since the 2021-22 season, having missed the entirety of the 2023-24 season while contracted with Everton with various injuries.
Dele joined Tottenham in 2015 from MK Dons and was one of the brightest prospects in the Premier League at that time. He recorded 10 goals and 10 assists in his debut season at the north London club and earned his England debut in October 2015, before going on to gain 37 caps for the national team.
In 2023, Dele spoke in an interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap about his mental health, saying he went to rehab after struggling with a sleeping pill addiction.
“Everton were amazing about it, they were always supportive of me 100 per cent and I’ll be grateful for them forever,” he said at the time. “Whatever happens in the future, for them to be so open, honest and understanding, I couldn’t have asked for anything more in that time when I was probably making the biggest decision of my life, something I was scared to do.”
Among his 269 appearances for Tottenham, Dele played a leading role in their second-placed Premier League finish in the 2016-17 campaign. He scored 22 goals (18 in the Premier League) and made 13 assists as Spurs recorded their highest top-flight finish since 1962-63. Despite suffering from hamstring injuries in the 2018-19 season, Dele made eight appearances in Spurs’ run to the Champions League final and started in the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Madrid.
Dele was also a part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad which reached the World Cup semi-final in 2018 and scored in the 2-0 quarter-final victory over Sweden.
(Photo: Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)