CONFIRMED: Dele Alli leaves Everton for Besiktas on loan

Dele Alli’s short spell as an Evertonian has come to an end with the midfielder joining Besiktas on a season-long loan.

The Turkish giants are believed to have an option to make the move permanent in January or at the end of the campaign.

It means Dele leaves the Toffees having made just 13 appearances and one solitary start, failing to score.

The move sees him reunited with former Everton striker Cenk Tosun, who rejoined his former club after being released by the Toffees at the end of last season

Everton signed the midfielder from Tottenham on transfer deadline day in January in a highly structured deal that cost the Toffees nothing up front, with a first instalment of £10m due when he made 20 appearances (a loan perhaps made more sense, but the inexplicable arrival of Anwar El Ghazi means all their loan slots were used up).

Dele, of course, has departed well short of breaking that particular barrier, though Tottenham are still believed to be due a payment, rumoured to be 25% of whatever Everton get for him. Canny Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is not that naive.

His best performance came as a second half substitute against Crystal Palace in May, with his energetic display helping to turn the game back in Everton’s favour at a raucous Goodison Park to ensure Premier League survival with one game left to play.

Sadly that was the exception rather than the rule and Frank Lampard, who struggled to find a place for him in the side, decided to let him go after assessing his abilities over the summer.

It is a low-key departure for a player whose career seems stuck in a downward trajectory.

It is almost hard to believe that Dele was part of the England side that reached the World Cup semi-finals four years ago (and a Tottenham team that reached the Champions League final the following year), but now finds himself shipped off to one of Europe’s second-tier leagues with his international career seemingly at an end at just 26.

Such a decline seems almost inexplicable to understand from the outside. It was hoped a change of scenery away from north London would reinvigorate the former MK Dons youngster but it just didn’t work.

Let’s hope a new country and new league can be the fresh start Dele needs to rediscover his undoubted natural ability.