Dele Alli training with EFL Championship club ahead of potential comeback | OneFootball

The former Spurs and England star has been spotted training, as he seeks to revitalise a career which ran completely aground more than two years ago.

The former Spurs and England star Dele Alli has been spotted training with West Ham United, with it now being more than two years since he last played a senior game.

According to reports in the media on Friday, the former Spurs and England star Alli, who has been without a club since 2025, has been spotted training with West Ham United.

It's now been more than two years since Dele last kicked a ball in anger. He was signed by the Serie A club Como in January 2025 and made his debut for them as a substitute in a match against Milan two months later. It couldn't have gone much worse for him. Brought on with just under ten minutes of the match to play, a clumsy challenge earned him a red card, and he never played for the club again.

Almost two and a half years on, Dele remains without a club, and there have been no suggestions made that he is set to sign for West Ham. But having passed thirty years of age earlier in 2026, this could be his final chance to revive a career which has completely collapsed since the start of the decade.

Dele Alli reportedly trains with West Ham as he looks to return to football

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While there is plenty of encouragement to be had from the news that Dele is back in training, the manager who gave him his start in the professional game has warned that he could face a long road back into the professional game.

Karl Robinson, who was the MK Dons manager between 2010 and 2016, was the man who gave Dele his first senior outing in the EFL. On Talksport Breakfast, he told Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour that he had bumped into the former Spurs star on holiday in Marbella in the summer, only to find out that he was at a training camp with West Ham United.

Robinson told Brazil and Parlour that he spent an hour talking to his former protege, adding that, "We spoke just about football in general, about how well he feels and how he wants to get himself back playing and how he seeks an opportunity."

And the former MK Dons manager, who's now in charge at Salford City, said that the onus will firmly be on Dele to prove himself, if he is to win a contract at another professional club.

"At the end of the day, if he is given this opportunity and he goes in to West Ham and hits the ground running, they know they're going to have such a talented footballer. But that's down to him. It's not down to anybody else now," Robinson added.

Reaction to Dele Alli and a potential West Ham contract

With 37 caps for England, Dele Alli was a big star when he played for a very successful Tottenham Hotspur team, so there has been a lot of chatter about him on social media in light of this news.

This West Ham fan would take Dele at The London Stadium in 2026-27:

This West Ham fan ranks Dele among the players his team could sign for an "ideal" summer:

And this Spurs fan just misses him at his best:

Time is starting to run out to save Dele Alli's professional football career

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Having turned thirty years of age in April 2026, time is starting to run out for Dele Alli, if he's to reboot his professional career before it's too late.

Previous attempts have not gone well. On top of the Como debacle, there was also his spell at Everton. He was with the club for three seasons, with half a season in the middle of that on loan in Turkey with Besiktas. It's a striking irony that he both played as many games and scored more goals during his half season in Istanbul (he scored 13 goals and scored twice for Besiktas, and played 13 games without scoring for Everton) over the other two and a half years.

Figures from Fotmob.com

Two and half years is a long time for any player to be out of the game at the best of times, and the last few years have not been the best of times for Dele.

He has struggled with both his physical fitness and mental health in recent years, and it's very much open to question, whether he'll be able to get anywhere near the level of his peak years.

Clearly the flame still burns inside him, and while thirty is a little late to be trying to reboot a career, it is still possible.

In the modern game, being 30 years of age doesn't have to be a disqualifier. But it's not going to be easy.

A Dele Alli who's half the player he was ten years ago would do a job for West Ham United in the Championship in 2026-27, but the question is whether he can get there or not, and as time progresses, the unfortunate truth is that it's looking less and less likely with each passing month.