Dele Alli Was Offered a Route Back by Former Boss Karl Robinson

Table of Contents

Karl Robinson, who gave Dele Alli his senior debut, says he offered the midfielder a route back into football at Salford City this summer.
Alli has had no club after his Como contract was terminated in September 2025, and he last played a competitive game in March 2025.
Robinson says he would “100 per cent give him a chance” and worries about Alli “as a young man”.

The Offer Robinson Made in June

Karl Robinson has revealed that he tried to give Dele Alli a way back into football this summer. Robinson, who handed Alli his senior debut at 16, told the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast that he told the midfielder to join him at Salford City, according to talkSPORT.

“I saw him in the gym in June, and I told him to come to Salford,” Robinson said. “But he probably looked at me and went, ‘gaffer, come on, I’m not doing that.'”

Robinson, 46, was in charge of the League Two club until earlier this summer. Salford sacked him in June after two seasons, which rules out an easy move for Alli. The offer, though, stays open in principle. “If a job comes up, Dele Alli is always more than welcome to come anywhere I go, if he wants to,” Robinson said.

A Year Without a Club

Alli is 30 and has had no club after Como terminated his contract in September 2025. He featured once for the Italian club. His last competitive game came in March 2025, when he was sent off nine minutes into his Como debut.

This summer he tried to find a way back. He was first linked with Barnet after using the League Two side’s training facilities, but a deal never materialised. He was later pictured training with semi-professional side Windsor & Eton. At the moment he remains without a club.

Robinson said he did not understand why. “I don’t know why he’s not playing football,” he said, adding that he hoped Alli would hear the message. “I hope he’s well, I hope he’s healthy, and I hope he’s in a good place,” Robinson said. He also said: “I worry about Dele as a young man” and that he will always be there to pick up the phone. “I would 100 per cent give him a chance,” he said.

From MK Dons to the 2019 Champions League Final

Robinson knows better than most how quickly Alli rose. He gave Alli his senior debut at Stadium MK and oversaw his development, and Alli scored 24 goals in 88 games for MK Dons, all of them under Robinson, before his move to Tottenham in 2015.

“When this boy left MK Dons at 18 to go to Spurs, he was getting compared to Lionel Messi, David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, James Rodriguez,” Robinson said. Watching “his rise with the national team and with Spurs, and looking to where he is now” leaves him puzzled.

At Tottenham, Alli won the PFA Young Player of the Year award twice and scored 67 goals in 269 games. He played in the side that finished second in the Premier League in 2017 and reached the 2019 Champions League final. He was also part of England’s run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

After he left Spurs in 2022, his career declined, with spells at Everton, Besiktas and Como. He last played in the Premier League in 2023, when he made 13 appearances for Everton. That year Alli spoke about the mental health struggles and childhood trauma that held back his progress, and injuries played a part too.

Robinson Believes Alli Still Backs Himself

Robinson said Alli’s belief in himself will not have gone. He pointed to Manchester United, who are struggling under Michael Carrick, as an example of how Alli would see it. “I guarantee if you sit down now, he would probably say he could turn around the fortunes of Man United,” Robinson said.

He said that attitude is common among elite players, who have “a self-belief and a poorly-developed sense of fear”. Those are the players, he said, who produce moments of magic.

Robinson also spoke warmly about the person behind the player. “He is a tremendous young man who has come through a lot of situations that he’s struggled through, but he’s risen above it to become the person he is,” he said.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.