Wednesday 26 April 2017 13:03, UK
Tottenham visit Crystal Palace this week, with the game taking Dele Alli back to the scene of his finest goal yet. Andrew Dickson reflects on a strike which confirmed his status as a Premier League star…
As Alli produced a moment of individual brilliance to put Tottenham 2-1 up in January last year, he was already four games into his international career.
Indeed, the fact he was fast-tracked into the senior team only five weeks after his under-21 debut was typical of the meteoric rise he was enjoying following his Spurs debut the previous August.
What Alli conjured up in South London 15 months ago took him to another level. With the sublime sequence of skills he displayed in his team's eventual 3-1 victory, a star was truly born.
The touch on his instep to control Christian Eriksen's padded header. The little flick and lift over his head. The controlled, rasping low volley from 20 yards.
Combined, they made up one of the outstanding goals of the 2015/16 season - and left a string of observers waxing lyrical about one of the Premier League's most exciting talents.
"It was a fantastic goal, it shows his quality and the moment he is in," his manager Mauricio Pochettino told Sky Sports afterwards.
"I cannot lie, he has surprised everyone with the way he has played and his maturity. We knew he was a player with unbelievable potential but I think today he showed unbelievable quality."
Phil Thompson described the goal as 'Dennis Bergkamp-esque' while Paul Merson shrieked in delight and Matt Le Tissier clapped wildly in the background.
Le Tissier, famed for his own range of brilliant solo strikes while at Southampton, later elaborated.
"It was pretty special," he said. "It's not very often a goal on Soccer Saturday gets a massive round of applause from all the pundits.
"When we all saw it. It was a spontaneous 'oh my goodness'. It was brilliant skill and the fact he has the confidence to even try that is fantastic.
"That's proper talent - it's not something you practice on the training ground. It's something that happens very instinctively.
"You see where your first touch goes, instinctively know the defender is going to be there, you can flick it over your head, you can spin. It was a sublime bit of skill."
The goal was Alli's sixth of the season for his club and demonstrated why Tottenham had closed out a deal to secure the player on an improved contract until 2021 just 11 days earlier.
Having become a regular in Pochettino's team and broken into the England side so soon after playing League One football with MK Dons, he was very much on an upward trajectory.
Jamie Redknapp felt he was destined for the top, saying: "We all knew about Dele in this country but that was a piece of brilliance that will announce him to the world."
If it didn't, Alli quickly found a way which would for sure. His imperious display for England as they came from 2-0 down to beat world champions Germany 3-2 in Berlin was another string to his bow.
Further notable performances as he scored in Tottenham's emphatic wins over Manchester United and Stoke added to a swell of goodwill which saw him voted as the PFA's Young Player of the Year.
And yet, Alli's campaign ended prematurely on a sour note. An altercation with West Brom's Claudio Yacob, in which he punched the Argentine in the stomach, earned him a three-match ban.
It is perhaps that side of his game which requires the most work. While the bite he possesses is part of his make-up, he has not always channeled it in the right way.
A career-first red card against Gent in the Europa League for a reckless tackle in February illustrates the need for a little more fine-tuning.
There is no doubt, however, Alli has continued to flourish in the main. A strike-rate better than Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard in his early Premier League games is testament to that.
We all knew about Dele in this country but that was a piece of brilliance that will announce him to the world.
Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain are among those reported to be keen on him, though Spurs rate him as much as they did Gareth Bale before his £85m move to the Bernabeu.
If he is sold, Graeme Souness believes the 21-year-old will be able to dictate his own future.
"Dele Alli has the world at his feet," he said. "He doesn't look out of place as a star of the Premier League - a league regarded as the hardest to play in with some of world's great players.
"How far can he go? Two things will determine how far he can go. If he's unlucky, injuries could play a part, or if he stops turning up every game wanting to learn.
"But he strikes me as someone whose feet are on the ground with the determination to get to the very top. He has a real chance of achieving that."
What Alli has achieved in the relatively short time since his flash of genius has been as exciting as it has been impressive.
For now, he is preparing to go back to Selhurst Park on Wednesday for the first time since his monumental goal, live on Sky Sports 1, as Tottenham's title bid continues.
In the long run, the more he grows, dictates and commands, exactly what his future holds will be compelling as it unfolds.
