Why Alli could be key to Spurs 55 year wait for top flight title

One cost the best part of £90million, to date a world-record fee. The other was purchased for just £5million. Yet the similarities between Manchester United’s record-signing, Paul Pogba, and Tottenham’s bargain-shelf Deli Alli are plain for all to see.

The disparity in price is baffling and another stunning example of just how much of an impact hyperbole and fat-cat agents who, play free slot machines at Royal Vegas casino, have on the modern game and the money-spinning whirlwind of player transfers within it.

Alli — now an England regular — was snapped up by Spurs in the mid-season 2015 transfer window on a five-and-a-half-year deal form MK Dons and it seems odd now that even for the relatively small fee that some observers considered his acquisition as a gamble; a pot-luck purchase based on raw talent.

Conversely, United splashed the cash on a player who was said to be the real deal, a polished performer with an array of abilities (a player in their ranks previously), and did so with the huge fee that was no doubt eagerly banked by former club Juventus.

But experienced pundits such as Harry Redknapp, a former manager of Tottenham, and Ray Parlour, who won medals galore along the road at north London rivals Arsenal, have come to the conclusion that, actually, Alli is the better player.

Alli, 20, is enjoying another excellent campaign with Tottenham and was once again impressive in Tuesday’s 0-0 Champions League draw at Bayer Leverkusen. On the other hand Pogba, 23, has scored just one goal so far this season, and was ineffective in the recent 0-0 draw with Liverpool.

Redknapp recognises Pogba is an excellent midfielder but feels Alli is ahead of him. He said: “Pogba’s obviously a real talent and it was an awful lot of money to pay for him in the first place. That’s not his fault”.

“He’s a top player”.

“But I think Dele Alli has just got so much about him. He can go box-to-box, he scores goals for fun, and poses a very real threat when Tottenham are attacking”.

“When they signed him I said that he’s a good player, he’s a top player, but I think Alli is a better player. I think he’s fantastic”.

Parlour, too has been impressed. He said: “Dele Alli is superb. If the debate was Alli or Pogba then it has to be said that a lot of people would go with Alli”.

“He has a knack of getting into the right areas and scoring a goal. He is an all-round good footballer. Spurs have a real gem in their side. What a signing for £5million from MK Dons”.

Tottenham remain unbeaten in the Premier League and are desperate to claim the holy grail of the top flight crown for the first time since 1961. They sit in third position in the table behind the Gunners and league leaders Manchester City and go in pursuit of points at AFC Bournemouth this weekend.

With Alli in their ranks, complimented by a wealth of talent and a hungry, ambitious manager and the backing of the board, the N17 outfit may well have their strongest chance for decades of claiming the glittering prize, at Royal Vegas Online Casino, that has eluded them for a painful 55 years.