Dele Alli: Tottenham midfielder warned against becoming ‘another Saido Berahino’ and urged to focus on football after England snub

Perry Groves has advised Dele Alli to ditch his off-field activities and focus solely on football to avoid becoming 'another Saido Berahino'.

The Tottenham midfielder has been dropped from the England squad for the upcoming Euro qualifiers against Czech Republic and Bulgaria following a poor run of form.

Despite a fast start to his young career, with 22 goals during a stellar season in 2015/16, the 23-year-old has grown increasingly ineffective in recent months.

And Groves, the former Arsenal winger, suggests Alli's career took a wrong turn in 2017.

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The playmaker, who made dramatic changes to his representation that year, has since become more active in the world outside of football, even launching his own clothing line.

However, as Groves points out, his performance levels appear to have taken a hit as a result.

The talkSPORT pundit said: "There's stuff off the pitch that might be detrimental to how he's performing.

"If you look at his stats: he was in the team very young at MK Dons. Karl Robinson was like a mentor to him. He had his agent, Rob Seagal, who was with him since he was a young player.

"He goes to Spurs, gets ten goals and 11 assists in 2015/16. He was unbelievable in his second season, got 22 goals and nine assists.

"Then in 2017/18 he only got 14 goals, last season he got seven goals, and this season: none. So it's been a steady decline.

"Why is there a steady decline? Spurs haven't had a steady decline, it's just him on his own.

"He changed his agent in 2017 and he changed it completely.

"He went to a Sports PR company to take care of his public relations. He went to a Creative Artist agency to take care of the commercial side. And the day-to-day agent business is conducted by his best friend, a lad called Harry Hickford, who is the exact same age."

Alli is still only 23 and remains a regular starter for Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham, so there is plenty of time for the England midfielder to overcome his current struggles and reach his full potential.

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However, Groves reminds Alli of another promising young Englishman whose career derailed due to various off-field discrepancies.

Berahino, once linked with Tottenham, recently saw his contract cancelled by Stoke with three years left to run, with Glen Johnson slamming his former team-mate's attitude.

The former West Brom striker also made a fast start to his career, scoring 14 Premier League goals for the Baggies during the 2014/15 campaign.

"You don't want him to be another Saido Berahino," Groves added.

"If you've got someone in charge of your day-to-day business who's the same age as you, they haven't got the experience themselves.

"If I was around Dele Alli now, I would be telling him, for the next year at least, don't worry about commercial activities, don't worry about your clothing brand.

"Just concentrate 100% on your football."

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