Dele Alli rocked by bruising comments from Besiktas boss about loan spell

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Dele Alli rocked by bruising comments from Besiktas boss about loan spell

Besiktas manager Senol Gunes has criticised Dele Alli for falling "below expectations" during his loan spell.

The 26-year-old joined the Turkish giants on loan in January in a bid to resurrect his career, after a move to Everton from Tottenham failed to work out.

But Dele has failed to hit the ground running at Besiktas, scoring just once in seven appearances for the club, and his performances have prompted Gunes to publicly admit his disappointment at how things are going.

"I couldn't affect the players [yet], now I can easily touch them, but we haven't touched Dele Alli yet," he told Turkish media. "Let's not discuss Dele Alli as a player, but he is below expectations in terms of efficiency."

Gunes' comments are the latest blow to Dele's career, which has stagnated over the past couple of years after a blistering start to life at Tottenham.

By the age of 22, Dele had already been capped 34 times by England and was widely regarded as one of the best attacking players in Europe. But he played just four more games for the Three Lions before being dropped in 2019, and has not been seen on the international stage since.

He was also replaced in Tottenham's starting lineup after flourishing in the early years of Mauricio Pochettino's spell as head coach, and failed to make any kind of impact under Jose Mourinho or Antonio Conte.

Everton manager Frank Lampard took a punt on Dele in January, agreeing a heavily incentifised deal that amounted to an initial free transfer, but he failed to register a goal or an assist in 13 games.