Dele Alli: My aim for now is 2026 FIFA World Cup

Alli is currently playing for Everton

In addition to searching for a new Premier League move, Dele Alli has disclosed the daily “reminder” that enables him to pursue his aim of playing in the 2026 World Cup.

The 28-year-old midfielder, who is signed with Everton, hasn’t participated in an official match since February 26, 2023, when he went on an unremarkable loan to the Turkish team Besiktas.

Since then, he has been mired in an injury nightmare, and when his agreement at Goodison Park ends at the end of this year’s campaign, he will become a free agent.

Dele does, however, have over 50 Premier League goals and 37 England caps to his name and is refusing to give up on playing his way into 2026 World Cup plans. He has told Sky Sports:

“I know my level as a player and what I can get to. I know how good I can be when my head is in the right place and I’m feeling good. Obviously I’m disappointed with the injury right now but I’m excited to get playing. It’s hard for me to even watch football. It’s been tough for me, I’d say, this past eight months has been hard to watch. You know you can set reminders on your phone, I have a reminder at 11 o’clock every day that says, ‘World Cup 2026’. That’s my aim for now.

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I think that people will be like, ‘he hasn’t played in a year’ but I don’t care, I know my level. The only target I have is the World Cup right now. Obviously I’m injured and contracted to Everton and so my mind is just about taking it day by day and making sure my injury is healed and that I’m in the best possible condition after the summer. It’s annoying because I’ll be just fully training as the season ends so it means that I won’t have to rush it.”

While Dele has been out of sight and mind of late, he is hoping to land another Premier League opportunity when hitting free agency. He added on his future: “I’m signed to Everton so I think it’d be disrespectful to say anything else while I’m here.

They’ve been so amazing with me and I don’t know if it’s off the cards being there next season so I won’t talk about any of that because they’ve been amazing and I don’t know the details of the situation but I want to stay in the Premier League and be at the highest level and playing against the best players. It’s exciting.

Some players might panic and think, ‘I’m out of contract in the summer’ but this is a great opportunity to show myself and show what an amazing story it has been and what it’s going to continue to be.”

Dele rose to prominence at Tottenham, scoring 20 goals a season, and represented his nation at the 2018 World Cup. However, problems both on and off the pitch have caused him to lose his professional spark, which must be rekindled if he is to aim for new goals.

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