How Dele Alli almost joined Liverpool over Tottenham | OneFootball

Alli cost Spurs £5m when they signed him from MK Dons, whose Stadium MK will play host to the Lilywhites’ Carabao Cup clash with Watford.

But the England international grew up supporting Liverpool and back in 2015, he very nearly ended up moving to Anfield instead.

Former Reds boss Brendan Rodgers explained what happened in 2016.

“We thought we had him at Liverpool,” Rodgers said.

“The manager of MK Dons actually drove him down to us. They played a game on the Saturday and we were playing West Ham on the Sunday.

“We’d had contact with Dele, it was all above board, I was speaking with Karl Robinson and I spoke to Dele and his adoptive parents.

“Karl did really well with him and he came to me and said: ‘I’ve got a really exciting player, I’d love to see him at Liverpool’.

“I spent a couple of hours in a hotel room with him and he wanted to come to Liverpool. It was all about getting the deal done with the club but unfortunately it never got done.

“On Saturday evening we thought it had got done but eventually he went to Tottenham, which was frustrating and disappointing. He’s done really well there.”

Speaking to Football Focus in 2016, Alli himself corroborated Rodgers’ story.

“At the time when I was at MK there was contact with Liverpool before I signed for Tottenham, but that was before we’d even spoke to Tottenham,” he said.

“I think it was six months before.

“We went up there and I think they knew that Steven Gerrard was my hero, so they said he was going to come down to meet me, but when I got there he was asleep apparently.

“I think he had a game the next day though so I understand.”

Who knows? If Gerrard had been awake that day, maybe Alli would still be a Liverpool player now.