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27th March 2023
10:58am BST
Former MK Dons manager Karl Robinson has revealed that he often lost his temper with Dele Alli and even pinned him "against the wall at times."
Alli started his career out at MK Dons and quickly rose to fame, signing for Tottenham as an 18-year-old in 2015 for a £5m fee.
He initially made a lively start to his career in north London, winning back-to-back PFA Young Player of the Year awards as well as being named consecutive PFA Team of the Years.
But since then his career has taken a downward spiral, firstly falling out of favour at Spurs before failing to make an impact at Everton after joining the Toffees on a free transfer.
Six months after arriving at Goodison Park Alli was on the move again as the 26-year-old joined Besiktas on loan until the end of the season. Once again though, he has failed to live up to the heights and the Turkish club are almost certainly not going to make his loan deal a permanent one.
It's been a sad decline for one of England's most promising talents in recent years and while Robinson backs him to rediscover his form, opened up on the time he and the midfielder's tempers boiled over.
Speaking to TalkSPORT, he said: "If you look at the data, he’s one of the hardest-working, highest distance-covered players playing.
"I think that his persona can sometimes look flippant. He can look laboured, but he always had that.
"I remember pinning him up against the wall at times. I remember him being dragged [into] a dressing room once by a senior player because he had this look on his face which was a smirk -- I lost it with him and a senior player lost it with him as well.
"He wasn’t smirking, it was just him. I remember speaking to him after and he said, 'Gaffer, I wasn’t trying to be rude or disrespectful.' When you listen to him you go, 'Oh, okay, I get you a little bit more.'
"The more you’re with him and the more time you spend with him, the more you understand him and the more he is a kind and caring human being."
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