It’s rare that a club comes out and dismisses speculation circulating around the internet about a player, but that’s exactly what Besiktas felt the need to do about Dele Alli.
The midfielder is there on loan from Everton for the season, with an option to buy, and the 26-year-old has made five appearances to date in the Süper Lig, scoring one goal.
He missed two games due to a thigh muscle strain, but returned for the fixtures against Fenerbahçe, Giresunspor and Trabzonspor, which led to some speculation that Valérien Ismaël, the manager, is being forced to play the Toffees loanee.
That, however, is not the case, as Besiktas have come out to address the rumours, and make it clear that in no shape or form did they agree with Alli or Everton that the 37-time capped England international has to feature.
They wrote on their website: ‘The news published in some media outlets today with the headlines “Dele Alli has a guarantee to play in his contract” and “Dele Alli promised to play!” are false.
‘All of the news reports stating that our footballer was promised to play by our coach Valérien Ismaël during the transfer process, that he has a clause in his contract to play in the first XI in any situation other than injury and that he plays in the matches for this reason contain false and untrue information. We kindly ask our supporters not to rely on such news aimed at devaluing our footballer.’
Therefore, it seems that Ismaël is playing the Everton midfielder simply because he feels he deserves to, and the aim remains for him to impress enough for Besiktas to warrant spending money on him at the end of the season.
After his move from Tottenham, Alli only made 13 appearances for Everton before being sent to Turkey this summer, as Frank Lampard seemingly felt he was better off without him.
