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Justin Job

The Real Story Behind That Cryptic Odisha FC Dele Alli Post

Dele Alli, Odisha FC, Transfer Talk

Indian Super League club Odisha FC sent parts of football Twitter into a spin this week after posting an old GIF of Dele Alli, fist pumping in an Everton shirt with the words “UP THE TOFFEES!” flashing across the screen, captioned with nothing more than a pair of eyes emoji. Given Alli’s well-documented situation as a free agent, the post was quickly read as a signing tease, racking up over 200,000 views and plenty of speculation within hours.

The twist came from the replies. One account cut through the confusion directly: “Chill theyre referring to Everton Nascimento.” As it turns out, Odisha FC had already completed their final foreign signing of the season weeks earlier, Everton Nascimento de Mendonça, a 33-year-old Brazilian striker who signed a one-year deal after a strong campaign in Indonesia with Garudayaksa. The old Dele Alli clip wasn’t a transfer tease at all, just a pun built around the word “Everton,” using an old English Everton moment to reference their new Brazilian Everton.

Away from Odisha, Dele Alli’s real situation remains unresolved. He’s been without a club since Como terminated his contract by mutual agreement in September 2025, following an infamous debut for the Serie A side against AC Milan in March that lasted just eight minutes before he was sent off. He hasn’t played competitive football since. This week, a fan spotted him training alone at The Hive and shared footage of the session online, writing, “Dele Alli spotted training at the Hive. Is this hinting at a potential move to Barnet for the free agent? Personally I think he would bring a bit of personality to our front line and really bring out the best in our players.”

That sighting prompted Barnet manager Dean Brennan to respond publicly, confirming the League Two leaders’ facilities were genuinely open to him. “Everyone deserves a second chance in life,” Brennan said. “At our football club we have lots of lads that train with us that are out of contract and if Dele wants to come train with us the doors are open. He can use us to get fit and train with the group.” Brennan added that Alli is “going through a real tough time.” The timing makes the offer more interesting than a routine gesture, Barnet sit two points clear at the top of League Two, unbeaten through their opening seven matches of the 2026-27 season, having only just returned to the English Football League last season after seven years in the National League.

It’s a long way from where Alli once stood in the game. At his peak with Tottenham, he won back-to-back PFA Young Player of the Year awards and became a fixture for both club and country, racking up 269 appearances and 67 goals for Spurs alone. He earned 37 caps for England, scoring three goals, and won two trophies with Tottenham, the Audi Cup in 2019 and the International Champions Cup in 2018. But his career unraveled quickly after leaving for Everton in 2022, where he managed just 15 appearances and three goals amid ongoing injury and form struggles. A loan to Beşiktaş yielded 13 appearances without a goal, and his move to Como produced a single appearance before the red card that effectively ended his time there. Across his entire senior career, including a brief start at MK Dons, Alli has made close to 300 club appearances and scored roughly 70 goals, numbers that once pointed toward a very different trajectory than the one he finds himself on now: training alone, hoping a League Two door might be the one that opens next.

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