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By LUKE POWER, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 22: 36 AEST, 7 September 2025 | Updated: 22: 37 AEST, 7 September 2025 12 View comments When the music stops on Dele Alli's career, he will have sung a single line of his days in Como, and a particularly melancholy one at that: '10 minutes, one red card. ' Things do not have to be this way. On Monday, Como announced that they and Alli had mutually agreed to terminate his 18-month deal, not even eight months after it was signed. Those 10 minutes off the bench in March, before a straight red for fouling AC Milan's Ruben Loftus-Cheek, proved his only cameo in Italy. Sadly, and almost unbelievably, they are the only minutes he has played in the last two-and-a-half years. He is a free agent once again. We have been here before. Alli, once the great hope of the English game, standing on the precipice of the unknown. He is a player who, we know, has a lightning storm somewhere in his boots, but is increasingly contending with the winds of a wandering career. The golden boy gathering dust. What has happened since those heady days at Tottenham? Sir Alex Ferguson once compared his talents to Paul Gascoigne. His was a Jude Bellingham level of hype. But sorry stints at Everton, Besiktas, and Como have followed. Now we could see him back in England - but not in the Premier League. Yet. Dele Alli is a free agent once again after being released by Como - and could end up in the Championship with Birmingham City, Wrexham, or West Brom In eight months in Italy, Alli played 10 minutes and received a straight red card against AC Milan He is navigating the next stage of his life without Cindy Kimberly, his former girlfriend from whom he split earlier this year Birmingham City, Wrexham, and West Brom have emerged as the favourites in the beauty contest to sign Alli . The first two offer the tantalising appeal of glitz and glamour. Birmingham, partly fuelled by the cash and interference of NFL legend Tom Brady, have made a strong start to life in the Championship. Wrexham, their fellow promotees from League One, have the Hollywood draw of Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mc Elhenney - did anybody mention? - and splashed £33million on medium-to-big-name Championship signings this summer. Alli would be a natural fit for Documentary Land. His chat with Jose Mourinho about his potential is one of the most famous clips from Spurs' foray onto Amazon Prime Video. 'I'm not expecting you to be the man of the match every game, I'm not expecting you to score goals every game, ' Mourinho said to his star in a brutally honest pep talk where he warned him that he wasn't looking to be his 'father', only to offer necessary advice. 'I want just to tell you that I think you will regret. 'You should demand more from you, not me demanding more from you. Not me, nobody, you. I think you should demand more from you. ' But of the three clubs, perhaps West Brom would be the best environment. Less scrutiny, and still a high ceiling - the Baggies sit second in the Championship, have been in and around the play-offs for three years, and are managed by his old Spurs team-mate Ryan Mason. Mason brought Alli back into the fold when he was interim boss at Spurs after he was frozen out by Mourinho. West Brom feels a nice fit, if they would take him. But all of this talk is, at this stage, mere conjecture. Alli models Prada gear as he enjoys his life in Italy, where he went after playing in Turkey The former England star was sent off for this challenge on Ruben Loftus-Cheek after stumbling His girlfriend Cindy helped him through much personal strife over the past few years He has been keeping himself ready for action despite being forced to train away from the first team at Como Because the truth is that Alli, 29, approaching three years since his last full 90 minutes, has a lot to prove to win over a side in the second tier. Not in talent or commercial appeal, but in fitness and dedication. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Como manager Cesc Fabregas banished Alli from their training camp earlier this summer to train with the team's unwanted 'bomb squad'. Why? We do not know the full story there but that is a question which needs answering. Football is a game of sliding doors and Alli was dealt his share of misfortune at Como. His straight red card against AC Milan came from clumsiness, not malice. It appeared that he lost his footing as he went to challenge Loftus-Cheek and caught his foot. It was a nasty-looking foul when replayed close up. Initially he was given a yellow, before VAR checks saw it upgraded to a red. Como's players protested hard. So, too, did Fabregas - even getting sent off for it. His old Tottenham friend Kyle Walker even had a word with the ref but to no avail. In grim fashion, to the worst headlines and assumptions possible, Alli was off, never to play for Como again amid a spate of injury issues. Fabregas had left the door open to him playing again but it never transpired. He has also had to endure much personal strife. Last year, he suffered the death of his childhood friend and fellow professional footballer George Baldock. In June, it emerged that he had split from his girlfriend, the model Cindy Kimberly. We can too easily brush off the impact of that, but who knows where that has left Alli but himself? Alli and Kimberly went public with their relationship in June 2022 before seemingly splitting this year. Some people get married in that timeframe. Alli mourned the death of his childhood friend and fellow footballer George Baldock last year Harry Kane and Eric Dier paid Alli a visit and were rewarded with their own Como shirts Cesc Fabregas was open to playing Alli last season, but reportedly banished him from Como's pre-season training camp Kimberly had been a rock for the former England star, who in 2023 opened up on his traumatic childhood, which included being sexually abused as young as the age of six. The model also stood by him as he revealed his addiction to sleeping pills and the mental health issues he has had to deal with, in an incredibly raw interview with Gary Neville. In 2023 he was pictured with a balloon in his mouth surrounded by laughing gas canisters. Alli disclosed that he checked himself into a rehab facility in the United States for six weeks to try and overcome his issues. '(My childhood is) something I haven't really spoken about that much, to be honest. I mean, I think there were a few incidents that could give you kind of a brief understanding, ' Alli said. 'So, at six, I was molested by my mum's friend, who was at the house a lot. My mum was an alcoholic, and that happened at six. I was sent to Africa to learn discipline, and then I was sent back. 'At seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs. An older person told me that they wouldn't stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I'd have the drugs, that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man. 'They taught me in rehab, I'm not allowed to say I was a bad kid but I got in trouble a lot, you know, with the police. I had no rules, I grew up without any rules. Like I said, my mum she drank a lot and I don't blame her at all for what happened. Last year he revealed he has an alarm set for 11am every day saying 'World Cup 2026' He and Gary Neville were moved to tears as the ex-Spurs star recounted his childhood trauma At Tottenham his progress was as good as any England star - can he recapture those days? 'I think going to [rehab] really helped me understand her and the things she was going through and what she had to deal with, and it was all she knew. 'Me going into rehab now has helped me understand her – it was all she knew. Like, even when she let me go and I got adopted, she knew and I knew that it was what was needed to even have a chance of living the life I wanted to live and be successful. And because it was only going one way if I stayed there. ' We know Alli can overcome this in a footballing sense because he already has. At Tottenham, whatever he was suffering away from the field, he made it work. Before the age of 21, he had 26 Premier League goals and 14 assists in 63 appearances. That was better than Cristiano Ronaldo, who had scored 14 and set up 11 in 83 outings. In fact, it was a far better record than Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard put together - in fewer games than either of them. It was superior to David Beckham and to Paul Scholes. In the 2016-17 season alone, he banged in 22 goals and added 13 assists. You get the point. At a young age, having already been through lots of the trauma he described, Alli was precocious beyond his England predecessors. The world was at his feet. Earlier this summer, a report emerged in Italy suggesting Alli was considering retirement. Maybe he will hang up his boots, maybe he won't. He does not owe us anything, but it would be a joy to see him back to his best in England. Last year, he revealed that he has an alarm set for 11am every day which reads: 'World Cup 2026'. Let's hope his fire still burns.
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