Dele Alli contract update shared at Everton as Tottenham clauses emerge

Everton will find it difficult to re-sign Dele Alli this summer because of clauses included in his move from Tottenham, according to Joe Thomas.

The Liverpool Echo journalist reported via The Royal Blue Mersey YouTube channel (11 July) that while the midfielder has returned for pre-season, the terms of his original transfer make it hard for the Toffees to offer him a new contract.

If Sean Dyche’s side were to hand the England international a new deal on Merseyside, they would still have to pay Spurs add-ons if or when he hit appearance-related clauses included in his move from North London.

Speaking on The Royal Blue Mersey YouTube channel, Thomas said: “Whilst he’s out of contract with Everton, it’s not as simple as there’s no deal there so he can just sign for whoever he wants to for free.

“If it was Everton, I think there is an obligation on Everton to pay something to Spurs. I don’t know how much it is, but the terms of the original deal make it difficult for Everton to go back for Dele Alli without triggering something that is prohibitive for them.

“It’s not a free hit if they just offer him a contract and that’s part of the problem at the moment is trying to work their way through that.

“The reality is and this remains the case now, is the terms of the deal that took him from Tottenham to Everton make it very difficult for Everton to contemplate giving him a proper chance of signing a new deal to get into the Everton first team.

“It’s not a free hit, it’s not as straightforward as he’s now out of contract, if he was to accept token wages or something could he end up signing for Everton again? It’s not the free hit that we’d all expect it to be.”