The signing of Dele Alli for Spurs back in 2015 was a big deal for a number of reasons, and David Pleat has now revealed how influential he was in getting that transfer over the line.
Dele was a bargain for Tottenham
An 18-year-old Dele joined Tottenham for a fee in the region of £5m in 2015. That fee was huge at the time, given the player’s age and the fact he was playing at League One level, but it proved to be a great deal in the end.
Dele made 269 appearances for Tottenham in total, scoring 67 goals and registering 58 assists for the Lilywhites (Transfermarkt) on his way to becoming one of the most exciting and productive young playmakers the Premier League has ever seen.
Speaking to Sky Sports about the role he played in ensuring Tottenham signed Dele, former scouting chief David Pleat said: “When I first saw him play at 16-years-old in the midfield, he was athletic, he was a box-to-box midfielder, with physicality, running power, and talent on the ball.
“To me, it was a no-brainer. On a couple of occasions, I really tried hard with the chairman to get the deal done, but it didn’t move too quick. Eventually, Daniel Levy rang me up and said, ‘MK Dons are going to sell the player, would £5m be too much?’ He thought it might be, for a player at that level. I said, ‘Take it, all day long.'”
Transfers aren’t decided by the chairman
Continuing his discussion about Dele’s move, Pleat also revealed that transfer deals don’t actually go down the way many think.
Apparently, while a chairman will sign off on the players the club signs, it is actually the bank managers who dictate how a deal is structured.
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He added: “No scout has the final decision. In the end, it’s not even the chairman, it’s the bank manager. You might go through several channels before the club decides and it’s recommended to the chairman. They will hopefully support the manager, if they have the funds to do so.
“But, in the end, their bank manager decides whether the payment is paid in one go, or over instalments. The whole game is incredibly fascinating.”
David Pleat was right
While Spurs may have never made a profit on their signing of Dele for £5m, he was without a doubt worth every penny the club spent on him. It’s a shame the way his time at Tottenham ended, but we hold out hope that he can find his way back to the top once more.