Newcastle United are reportedly unlikely to be able to find a way to afford the wages of Tottenham Hotspur and England midfielder Dele Alli in January, while the 24-year-old is not thought to be keen on the move to St James’ Park.
Steve Bruce is reportedly targeting the midfield area as one of the key positions to strengthen in the winter window. It is likely though that such additions are going to be loan moves with the Magpies not having any funds available to sign players on permanent transfers in January, per The Telegraph. Alli has been reported as being a player in that area that could be of interest.
The 37-cap England international has been out of favour at Tottenham so far this campaign under Jose Mourinho, with Alli managing to make just four Premier League appearances and playing an average of just 20 minutes per game (Sofascore). Therefore, it is being reported that he could be set to depart the club in January to get some much-needed game time.
However, in the latest report from The Telegraph it has been revealed that the Magpies are not going to be able to make up a large part of Alli’s current £100,000-a-week wages. While it has also outlined that the midfielder is not keen on the idea of moving to Newcastle in the winter window either.
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This was always a transfer move that seemed to be more speculative than possible to happen. Alli is the sort of player that thrives in a team that play on the front foot and like to press high up the pitch as Tottenham did under Mauricio Pochettino. That is one of the main reasons why he has struggled to get into Mourinho’s more reserved set-up this term.
The 24-year-old possesses obvious talent on the ball and star quality that can unlock defences and win matches out of nothing, and those are of course the type of things that Bruce’s side are lacking in at the moment. However, Newcastle could well get dragged back into a relegation battle and you can not imagine Alli wanting to be part of a survival scrap.
Bruce needs to make sure that he identifies suitable alternatives that might be able to be persuaded to move to St James’ Park. The positive of this update is that it means time will not be wasted pursuing the England international in January even though any move was never likely to happen.
