Championship bosses are being urged to snap up free agent Dele Alli and make him the "main man" in their plans. Ex-Premier League star Clinton Morrison, who was briefly at MK Dons during the same time as Dele, has told GOAL why the former Tottenham midfielder should be prepared to take a step back into the EFL after enduring a disastrous stint in Italy with Como.
Free agent: Dele released by Everton & Como
Having struggled on and off the field during a stint at Everton, Dele was released by the Toffees when his contract on Merseyside came to an end. He continued to train with the Premier League outfit until Como – who are managed by ex-Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona star Cesc Fabregas – came calling late in 2024.
Dele took in just one substitute appearance for the Serie A outfit, which lasted less than 10 minutes after he collected a red card against AC Milan. He saw his deal terminated in September 2025 and has been without a club ever since.
Dele has continued to work on an individual training programme, with the 37-cap England international still of the opinion that he can make a decisive contribution somewhere. He may, however, find it difficult to drum up interest after gracing one game since February 2023 and enduring long-running issues on the fitness front.
Advertisement
Getty Images
Elegant footballer: No doubting Dele's ability
Morrison – who was on loan at MK Dons when Dele was still in their academy system – hopes that the ex-Spurs star can find a new home. Speaking in association with Freebets.com, the home of best casino sites, Morrison told GOAL: "I think he’s a fantastic footballer. He has got so much ability, such an elegant footballer. He’s brilliant. You probably would say it is last chance saloon for him now. He needs to find a football club and just be happy and be the Dele Alli that we all know with the natural ability that he has got.
"It’s down to Dele Alli now what he wants to do. Does he want to continue and find another club? Where does he want to play his football? But there is no doubt about Dele Alli, he has got some major talent – unbelievable. I remember the goal he scored at Palace – flicked over the defender’s head and wellied it first time. He’s a top, top player.
"He’s had a very good career but injuries and other stuff have kind of stopped him. I still think he’s a top talent. I wish him well and hopefully he can get back to his best because talent like that we don’t see a lot. He’s a super player."
EFL opportunity: Where next for Dele?
Dele is still only 29 years of age, so should be far from finished. The likes of Birmingham and Swansea – who count Tom Brady, Luka Modric and Snoop Dogg among their investors – have seen approaches mooted.
No deal has been done, but Morrison added on Dele finding a new landing spot somewhere in the Football League: "That’s when you hit the peak of your game, at 29. If I’m a Championship manager or chairman, I’m looking to sign Dele Alli. I’m giving him the love that he needs, arm around the shoulder and say ‘you’re going to be the main man here, we’ll give you the game time’. You have got to get fit and earn the right, but when he is fit and flying there aren’t many players that are as good as Dele Alli in the Championship.
"I do believe that he doesn’t need to think about the Premier League and maybe take a step back to the Championship and play football there. Go and enjoy yourself. That’s what you want, Dele Alli enjoying himself and playing with a smile on his face and showcasing his ability. We know he has got loads of ability and that’s what you want from him."
ENJOYED THIS STORY?
Add GOAL.com as a preferred source on Google to see more of our reporting
Getty
Premier League appearances & trophies: Dele's record
Dele is a two-time PFA Young Player of the Year who graced the Champions League final with Tottenham in 2019. He has made close to 200 Premier League appearances, scoring 51 goals, and needs to find a club that will provide the backing he needs in order to rekindle a lost spark.
ESPNcricinfo staff22-Aug-2025Newlands will host the opening match as well as the final of the SA20 2025-26. The tournament begins on December 26 with defending champions MI Cape Town taking on Durban’s Super Giants. The final will be played on January 25.The Qualifier 1 will take place in Durban on January 21, the Eliminator in Centurion on January 23, and the Qualifier 2 in Johannesburg the following day.”The SA20 season 4 is shaping up to be an incredibly exciting summer of cricket, kicking off on Boxing Day and running through the holiday period,” Graeme Smith, the league commissioner, said. “Last year Newlands sold out all five matches at the venue and with the final taking place on a Sunday, it sets up an incredible afternoon with great weather, entertainment and a lively atmosphere to crown our season 4 champions.Related
SA20: Markram heads to the auction ahead of 2026 season
Klusener to remain in charge of Super Giants in SA20
“Durban will host a playoff for the first time. We are hoping this will excite the fans, especially because the two best teams of the competition will be playing in that Qualifier 1. We’re also excited to go back to Centurion and Wanderers on Thursday and Friday nights. It’s always key to have the venues close together because the matches are a day apart.”For now, the teams will be focused on the player auction scheduled for September 9, where they will finalise their 19-player squads.Sunrisers Eastern Cape won the first two editions of SA20, and were runners-up in the previous edition, where they fell short against MI Cape Town.
Blue Jays star outfielder George Springer exited Toronto's loss in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series after getting hit on his right kneecap by a 95-mph sinker from Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo. Springer, clearly in immense pain, laid on the ground for a few minutes as the Blue Jays trainer and manager John Schneider emerged from the dugout.
With Schneider and the trainer by his side, Springer limped his way up the first base line in an apparent attempt to remain in the game before ultimately exiting the contest, where he was helped down the dugout steps into the clubhouse. Springer was replaced at first base by pinch runner Joey Loperfido.
After the game, Schneider spoke to reporters and provided an update on Springer while also getting something off his chest. The Blue Jays manager took exception to what he believed to be an inappropriate reaction to the Springer injury by the crowd at T-Mobile Park.
"He's got a right knee contusion. He had X-rays, which were negative, which is a good thing," Schneider said. "George is about as tough as they come. I think he'll have to really, really be hurting to not be in the lineup on Sunday. So we'll see how he is.
"On that note, I know this is an awesome atmosphere to play in. And it's really, really cool to play here. And I think the fans that were booing him should take a look in the mirror and understand what kind of player he is. And—I'll stop there because when a guy gets hit in the knee and is in obvious pain and you have 40,000 people cheering, not the right thing to do."
Schneider is referring to the reactions to the crowd, in which there were some seeming boos when Springer slowly made his way up the first-base line.
One of the game's great postseason performers, Springer has continued his October excellence against the Mariners—he has seven hits, two home runs and four RBI in five ALCS games—to the chagrin of Seattle's fans, who have taken to booing him heavily during the three contests played at T-Mobile Park.
While most of the boos could be seen as a sign of respect for Springer's greatness, Schneider clearly felt that Mariners fans took it a step too far on Friday night.
The Boston Red Sox and breakout rookie outfielder Roman Anthony are in agreement on an eight-year, $130 million contract extension that includes a club option for the final year of the contract, according to a report from ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Anthony will now be under team control through the 2034 season.
Anthony's new deal will begin in earnest in the 2026 season. There are significant escalators in the deal that could take the maximum value of the contract to $230 million.
The 21-year-old Anthony, who was one of the top prospects in all of baseball, was called up earlier this season and has become an integral part of Boston's summer resurgence as one of the premier contenders in the American League.
In 46 games for the Red Sox, Anthony is slashing .283/.400/.428 with an .828 OPS. He has hit two home runs to go along with 19 RBI in his first season with Boston.
The former second-round pick in the 2022 MLB draft is a breakout star for Boston, and will now be a cornerstone for the franchise for years to come.
أعلن إبراهيم حسن، مدير منتخب مصر، عن إقامة مباراة ودية قوية ضد نيجيريا، ضمن الاستعدادات الختامية قبل المشاركة في بطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا 2025 بالمغرب.
ومن المقرر إقامة بطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا 2025 في المغرب، خلال الفترة من 21 ديسمبر 2025 إلى 18 يناير 2026.
وسيشارك 24 منتخبًا في بطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا، مقسمين على 6 مجموعات.
وأسفرت قرعة كأس أمم إفريقيا، عن تواجد منتخب مصر في المجموعة الثانية مع زيمبابوي وأنجولا وجنوب إفريقيا.
طالع.. خاص | حسام حسن يحدد ثلاثي حراس مرمى منتخب مصر في كأس أمم إفريقيا
ويستهل منتخب مصر مبارياته في دور المجموعات من بطولة كأس أمم إفريقيا، بمواجهة زيمبابوي، ثم يلاقي جنوب إفريقيا ويختتم بلقاء أنجولا. موعد مباراة مصر ونيجيريا وديًا استعدادًا لـ كأس أمم إفريقيا 2025
وقال إبراهيم حسن خلال تصريحات عبر المركز الإعلامي لاتحاد الكرة المصري، إن منتخب مصر يلعب ضد نيجيريا وديًا استعدادًا لـ كأس أمم إفريقيا.
وأضاف: “تقام مباراة مصر ونيجيريا، يوم 14 ديسمبر على ملعب استاد القاهرة”.
تم تأجيل موعد المباراة لتقام يوم 16 من شهر ديسمبر، ووفقًا لتصريحات خالد الدرندلي نائب رئيس اتحاد الكرة المصري.
The former Bangladesh captain joins Sazzad Ahmed in the senior women’s selection panel
Mohammad Isam20-Sep-2025The BCB has appointed Salma Khatun as the country’s first woman selector. The former Bangladesh captain will join Sazzad Ahmed in the women’s selection panel. Bangladesh are in the last stage of preparation ahead of the Women’s World Cup next month.Salma was Bangladesh’s first captain in international cricket. She went on to lead the country in 65 WT20Is and 18 WODIs. At the time of her last WT20I, she was Bangladesh’s most-capped women’s T20I cricketer, having played 95 matches. She has also played 46 WODIs.Salma was also the ICC’s No 1 bowler in WT20Is in 2014 and 2015. She took 84 T20I wickets with her offspin at an average of 18.57, with best figures of 4-6 against Sri Lanka.”I think this is a revolutionary decision by our [BCB] president [Aminul Islam], as having someone like Salma involved will provide great support for women’s cricket,” Iftekhar Rahman, the BCB’s media committee chairman, said. “This is the first time such an appointment has been made in Bangladesh.”The board has also promoted Hasibul Hossain to the senior men’s selection panel. He will join chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain and Abdur Razzak. The third position had been vacant since Hannan Sarkar left the role in February this year.Hasibul, the former fast bowler, played five Tests and 32 ODIs. He played in Bangladesh’s inaugural Test match against India in 2000, and was involved in the famous leg-bye that won Bangladesh the ICC Trophy final in 1997.Hasibul had been a junior selector in the BCB since July 2016, having worked closely with the Bangladesh Under-19 side that lifted the World Cup in 2020.
Gary Neville has named why Manchester United teammate Nani “frustrated” him the most, but admitted he would still get in any Premier League team right now.
Neville criticises Man Utd’s current "ageing" spine
United appear to have turned a corner in recent weeks, having won three successive matches for the first time under Ruben Amorim before Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest.
Tottenham vs Man Utd
November 8
Man Utd vs Everton
November 24
Crystal Palace vs Man Utd
November 30
Man Utd vs West Ham
December 4
Wolves vs Man Utd
December 8
However, Neville appeared on The Overlap’s Stick to Cricket show and had some criticism for the team’s “ageing” spine.
He said: “I think your spine of a football team is critical. When I first came into Man United, our spine was (Peter) Schmeichel, (Steve) Bruce, (Gary) Pallister, (Roy) Keane and (Eric) Cantona and so we were all scattered around it.
“I think Maguire and (Matthijs) De Ligt should be doing a lot better than they are. You know, you look at the experience that those two have got. De Ligt’s played a mountain of games at sort of different levels, the highest level. Harry’s played so many times for England. You’ve got the midfield, Casemiro and Bruno have got massive experience.
“Up front, they haven’t got the experience. But to me, that spine of Bruno Fernandes (31), Casemiro (33), Maguire (32) and De Ligt (26) is ageing, but should be doing a lot better at holding it all together than they do.”
Man Utd have a "beast" in the academy who's another Casemiro in the making
Manchester United would benefit from the emergence of the next Carrington superstar this season.
1 ByAngus Sinclair Nov 5, 2025 Neville names Nani most frustrating Man Utd teammate
Neville was also asked by ex-England cricket captain Micheal Vaughan for the player who frustrated him the most during his career.
The former Man Utd right-back chose Nani, saying he was “erratic” but a winger who “could win you games”.
The Portuguese forward made the move to Old Trafford in 2007 and spent eight years in Manchester, making 230 appearances in all competitions in a United shirt.
He contributed to more than 100 goals during that time, winning four Premier League titles and one Champions League.
It isn’t just Neville who found Nani frustrating, with Wayne Rooney also calling the forward his worst Red Devils teammate.
“My worst team-mate – there are a lot more than you’d probably think. On the pitch, the toughest one was Nani. He was frustrating to play with.”
Gary Neville names the best Premier League XI of all-time with no Man Utd legends
LOS ANGELES — Sometimes, a Dodgers player will check the news and find his name in it, alongside his manager’s. Dave Roberts has told the media—and through them, the fans—that he finds something about the player’s performance unacceptable. The player is rarely surprised.
This week, it has been star shortstop Mookie Betts: “I think he’s pressing,” was Roberts’s diagnosis after Betts went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Game 5 of the World Series to bring his series batting average to .130. “You can see there’s a little anxiousness there.”
This is an unusual approach for a modern manager. This October, Padres skipper Mike Shildt praised right fielder Fernando Tatís’s at-bat quality all the way through his 1-for-12 National League wild-card series. Cubs manager Craig Counsell discounted the idea that Pete Crow-Armstrong was trying to do too much even as the center fielder swung at breaking balls in the dirt. Yankees skipper Aaron Boone spent much of the summer insisting that shortstop Anthony Volpe, who over a two-week stretch in August had more errors (two) than hits (one), had just been unlucky. Six days after the Blue Jays bounced the Yankees from the playoffs, Volpe underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Meanwhile, last week, Roberts told the assembled media that the Dodgers would not win the World Series if two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s at-bats did not improve.
PHILLIPS: Inside the Numbers of the Dodgers’ Postseason Offensive Collapse
You might expect that sort of public criticism to rankle his players. They say it does the opposite.
“I’ve always loved it,” says third baseman Max Muncy. “When he comes out and says things in statements to the media, it’s not anything he hasn’t told the player before. So the player is never being caught off guard. And sometimes as players, you need to feel that pressure. If he’s just talking to you and he says it, that’s one thing, but if he talks to you and says it, and then you see it on MLB Network, then it’s like, ”
Roberts sees that level of candor as part of his job.
“I think it’s important for them, for the fans and the media to know that I have certain standards and expectations, and it’s not an embarrassment [thing], it's a transparency [thing],” he says. “And I think that they know that I root for them as hard as anyone else, and so when I’m honest with the media, I think that’s why it lands. I am also the first to support them and back them when things aren’t going well, but I do feel that there’s times where I feel like I gotta be honest with what everyone’s seeing, and I just think that I’ve built enough equity with our guys that they know that I’m not just trying to embarrass them.”
Roberts is typically transparent with his opinions during press conferences. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
And everyone agrees that this only works because Roberts is as willing to challenge his stars as he is his scrubs. After the Dodgers fell to the Padres in four games in the NLDS in 2022, Roberts acknowledged, “You look at that dugout versus our dugout, there was more intensity there.” (He later pointed out that this was as much a criticism of himself as the manager as it was of any player.) This season alone he has identified a lack of “edge” in both reliever Blake Treinen and right fielder Teoscar Hernández.
“When you come in, you’re part of a team,” Muncy says. “It’s not a one-man show. And if you’re doing something negative to that team, you’re gonna get called out about it. It doesn’t matter what your number is, doesn’t matter what your stats are, doesn’t matter what your legacy is. If you’re not doing something to help that team win, you’re putting us in a hole, [and he’ll tell you]. And that really contributes to the culture we’ve created.” He adds, “Sometimes you gotta get guys out of their comfort zone if you want to get the best out of somebody.”
Betts, a frequent recipient of public concern from his manager about his mental approach—last year Roberts wondered aloud if Betts’s postseason struggles had gotten to him—seems almost surprised that not everyone does it this way.
“I think he’s just holding us accountable,” says Betts. “I think that’s really important. I don’t care who you are. If you’re Shohei or the last guy on the team, everyone needs to be held accountable. Usually people like Shohei, [most people] don’t really say anything to him. If he messes up, you kind of let him do his thing. You know he’ll fix it. But it doesn’t work like that. You need someone to hold you accountable. If you want to be good, you should probably hold your guys accountable.”
Indeed, Roberts says he goes out of his way to make sure he’s focusing his most intense criticism on his best players.
“I think I’m probably more apt to do it with those guys, because a lot of times they get a lot more grace than the 26th man,” he says.
And they seem to understand his intent. Besides, if the Dodgers are flustered when their manager acknowledges publicly that they are struggling, are they really mentally equipped to play at the highest level? After Roberts lamented what Ohtani’s at-bat quality was doing to the team, the two-way star agreed with him.
“The other way to say it,” Ohtani pointed out in response in Japanese, according to the , “Is that if I hit, we will win.”
The other key, Roberts says, is that he expects his players to do the same to him. From time to time, he says, he’ll make a decision, then return to his office to find Betts waiting to discuss it with him. Enforcing a standard means enforcing it for everyone, including himself. It also means that if the Dodgers lose the World Series this weekend, they will hear about it from fans and from the media—and from their manager.
NEW YORK — For the second night in a row, with a crowd there to see him, Jazz Chisholm showed them his back. On Tuesday, he rifled through his locker and mumbled monosyllables as reporters asked him if he agreed with manager Aaron Boone’s decision to bench him in Game 1 of the American League wild card series. On Tuesday, back in the starting lineup for Game 2, Chisholm dashed around third from first base on an eighth-inning single, slid on his belly into home plate and lay there, pounding the dirt, for nearly 10 seconds.
Redemption was not on his mind, he insisted later. Winning was.
Well, he got both. His run was the game-winner in a 4–3 victory over the Red Sox, the second straight classic in the best-of-three series. He also saved at least one run—Boston manager Alex Cora thought it was more like two—with a diving stop in the seventh.
“That was the game right there,” said reliever Fernando Cruz, who extinguished a fire that inning to preserve the 3–3 tie and then celebrated so passionately that Boone joked about getting out of his way in the dugout. “That’s something that people don’t notice a lot of times, but I want to make sure it’s mentioned. Jazz saved us the game, completely.”
Chisholm, too, has always played with passion, often to the chagrin of his opponents and sometimes even his teammates. So when he learned that on the heels of a season in which he became only the third Yankee ever (after Bobby Bonds in 1975 and Alfonso Soriano in 2002 and ’03) to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases, he would sit in Game 1, he shared his frustration with anyone who asked. Chisholm did not care that as a lefthanded hitter, he was part of a group that hit .166 with a .455 OPS against the Red Sox’ lefthanded ace, Garrett Crochet.
“As tough as Crochet is, he has been especially tough on lefties,” Boone said, explaining why he was sitting Chisholm, lefthanded first baseman Ben Rice and lefthanded third baseman Ryan McMahon in favor of righties Amed Rosario, Paul Goldschmidt and José Caballero. (Crochet allowed one run and struck out 11 in 7 ⅔ innings, so it might not have mattered who was in there anyway.) “There’s no great matchup.”
Chisholm obviously thought he was one. His reaction to his Tuesday benching could have rankled the Yankees, but on Wednesday, they said they understand who he is. “He is a guy that wears his emotions on his sleeve,” Boone said before Wednesday’s game. “I don’t need him to put a happy face on. I need him to go out and play his butt off for us tonight. That’s what I expect to happen.” Afterward, right fielder and team captain Aaron Judge praised Chisholm’s maturity in not letting his disappointment distract him.
Indeed, Chisholm said that by the time he managed his custom New York Aliens team (starring him, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jimmy Rollins) to a 12–1 victory in the video game on Tuesday night, he had moved on.
“All that was clear before I came to the field today,” Chisholm said. “After I left the field yesterday, it’s . It is win or go home for us. It is all about winning.”
Wednesday was a banner day for the players who sat on Tuesday. With a man on first in the first inning, Rice became the sixth player since 2000 to homer on the first pitch of his postseason career. Third baseman Ryan McMahon added a single and a walk. (Rice did not attribute his success to residual frustration over the lineup decision. “I know my role,” he said. “Yesterday my role was to be ready for a big at-bat off the bench, and today I was starting.”)
Chisholm’s role on Wednesday was to key his team to a win. After three lackluster at-bats, he took the field behind lefty Carlos Rodón to open the top of the seventh. Rodón had begun to show signs of weakening both physically and mentally—after he allowed a sixth-inning leadoff homer to Trevor Story to tie the game at 3, he looked furious with himself and walked the next batter, Alex Bregman, on four pitches—and he began the seventh with eight straight balls to put two of the Red Sox’ fastest players, Nate Eaton and Jarren Duran, on base. Boone summoned the right-handed Cruz to face Ceddanne Rafaela, who popped up a bunt. Cruz then induced a fly ball to left field. He got to 3–2 on Masataka Yoshida, and both runners took off. Yoshida lined a ball up the middle, and Chisholm knocked it down. The runners held at second and third. Cruz got Story to fly to deep center to end the threat. Cruz all but burst into flames in celebration.
VERDUCCI: Red Sox Fail Two Fundamentals Tests, Give Game 2 to Yankees
“For me, you know what’s going on,” Chisholm said afterward. “You see a ground ball, you gotta stop it. You have to keep it in the infield. You have to stop that run from scoring. I felt at that point it would have been a really crucial run. I was doing what I could to keep the ball in the infield. Not trying to make the play at first base but keep it in the infield.”
An inning later, he worked a walk and then took off when Austin Wells singled to right. When Wells went to congratulate him, Chisholm grinned. “If it was anywhere—left or right—I was scoring,” he said. Wells just laughed. He knows better than to doubt Chisholm.
Boone has insisted he made the right decision on Tuesday, and he may well have. But on Thursday, the Red Sox will start lefty Connelly Early—and Boone will start Chisholm.