Arsenal hero offers former Tottenham talent Dele Alli career lifeline - but there is a catch

Former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has said Dele Alli will join Serie A side Como 1907 after Christmas. However, the free agent and former Tottenham star would only be there to train, rather than end his search for a new club.

Dele made 269 appearances for Spurs between 2015 and 2022, scoring 67 and assisting a further 58 goals to establish himself as one of English football's most talented individuals.

However, in the years after Mauricio Pochettino left the club he found it increasingly difficult to maintain form and fitness under new managers, leading to his overall decline.

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By January 2022 he had secured a transfer to Everton. No upfront fee was required for the Merseyside club struggling with finances, with benchmarks set for payments to be made instead, such as certain numbers of appearances or agreeing a new contract at Goodison Park.

Again, this only stunted his career as he made 13 total appearances for the Toffees as they quite literally could not afford to play him. He actually played more for Besiktas whilst on loan for the 2022/23 campaign.

And it was also at this time that the midfielder opened up about his abusive and upsetting childhood, the trauma of which resulted in attending rehab during his Everton spell.

As the 28-year-old was unable to agree a new deal heading into the recent summer, Dele has ended up a free agent searching for his next club.

Over the weekend, Dele was spotted in the stands at Como's Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia for their 2-0 victory over AS Roma, sparking fresh debate the Italian outfit might offer him a career lifeline.

And speaking afterwards, their manager Fabregas - twice an English top-flight winner with Chelsea as a player and FA Cup winner at Arsenal - confirmed: "I met him yesterday, I don't want to talk about this today. He could train with us after Christmas, but only to get back into shape."

With Dele still after a new club this could well prove to be the first step towards him achieving the target of getting his career back on track.