Dele Alli’s injury may prevent him from playing this season, according to Sean Dyche, who notes Everton are “deliberately holding him back” to aid in his healing.
After groin surgery and yet another injury setback, the Toffees manager believes the former England midfielder still has “a long way to go”.
When Alli, 27, revealed abuse as a youngster in an interview in July, he was commended for his bravery.
The former Tottenham player revealed to Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast that he had recently returned from six weeks in treatment for a sleeping medication addiction brought on by childhood trauma.
Alli said that after receiving psychological assistance, he was “mentally in the best place I’ve ever been” and that he had regained his love for football.
However, he has since been plagued by fitness problems; as a result, it has been 11 months since he last played football with the first team.
Dyche is eager to give him all the “time and space” he requires in order for him to make a flawless comeback.
The Everton manager said: “He’s in good shape. I spoke to him recently and we had a good long conversation with him.
“Making sense of another injury is difficult but he’ll come through that.
“There’s a long way to go. We’ve deliberately kept him back, we agreed with him to give him time and space.
“Hopefully he’ll be back, we just don’t know.”
The former Tottenham star has failed to reach the heights expected of him after a promising start to his football career. Everton want to make sure now that they provide Alli with the best opportunity to resurrect his career and that is why they are carefully managing his fitness issues.
The 27-year old has 37 caps for the England national team and scored three goals for his country.
