Everton fans have designed a banner in support of midfielder Dele Alli ahead of Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Sporting CP.
The £40m player gave an emotional interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap YouTube channel, where the 27-year-old discussed some of the personal issues he has had to overcome throughout his life.
The raw interview prompted Everton fans to raise money for a banner which says, ‘Believe Dele’, and will be unveiled at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Taking to Twitter, user @HibboFishingOnTheCanal tweeted: “Dele banner arrived today! – 5×10-ft.
Boss design from @Thebluedoodler can’t wait to see this at Goodison Saturday. After GFM fees, blues raised £419. Banner cost £129, we are donating the remaining £290 to @EITC.
Thank you everyone who helped! Hopefully this helps him!”
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Everton can hopefully offer Dele Alli the correct support network to return to his best form
The football community rallied around the England international following his interview on The Overlap and no doubt everyone would love to see the talented individual playing his best football once more.
Dele is yet to feature for Sean Dyche after spending last season on loan at Turkish Super Lig side Besiktas, and he has so far been unavailable for pre-season through injury.
However, once fit, Everton could have a serious player on their hands should the 26-year-old reach the levels at which he was playing during his time at Spurs.
The unusual nature of Dele’s transfer to Everton means that the Blues will have to pay Spurs £10m should he make nine more appearances at Goodison Park.
Arriving on an initial free transfer, Everton would not need to pay Spurs until Dele made 20 appearances for the club, at which point £10m would be owed, with an overall fee of £40m potentially due with performance-related add-ons.
In today’s market, £10m is extremely cheap for a player of Dele’s quality, and if he can get fit and firing again at Goodison Park, the Blues will have a top-class talent.