Club chairman claims Dele loan deal was agreed with Spurs before Everton bid

The chairman of Turkish club Adana Demirspor, Murat Sancak has revealed that the club had struck an agreement with Spurs to sign Dele Alli before Frank Lampard was hired as Everton boss. 

Alli’s seven-year spell at Tottenham came to end on Monday when Everton swooped to sign the midfielder permanently.

According to reports, Everton will pay £10m to Spurs for the midfielder after he has made 20 appearances for them ( The Telegraph). However, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that there are plenty of add-ons in the agreement that could take the fee to as high as £33m. 

L’Equipe revealed this week that Spurs offered the 25-year-old to seven different Ligue 1 clubs on loan before the Toffees came in with an offer the North London club could not turn down.

Alli has admitted that having the opportunity to work with Frank Lampard was one of the main motivations behind his move to Goodison Park (Sky Sports).

Sancak has now revealed that Demirspor had agreed to sign Alli on loan before the news of Lampard’s appointment came through.

The Demirspor chairman even revealed that the former Tottenham man’s brother was in Turkey to sign off on the deal.

He is likely referring to Harry Hickford, whose family unofficially adopted Dele when was young, and who the midfielder has previously referred to as his “brother” (Daily Mail).

Sancak said (via Aspor): “We made a deal with Tottenham for Dele Alli. They were going to give us a loan. 

“Even his older brother came to Turkey. The transfer was almost over. Just then, when Lampard went to Everton, he broke our business.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Based on this revelation by Sancak and the aforementioned report by L’Equipe, it sounds like there were not too many takers for Dele in January until Everton turned up on deadline day. Time will tell if the move is a stroke of genius by Lampard or a costly mistake.

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