Tottenham's Dele Alli sets age standard amid breakout season
Tottenham darling Dele Alli's decorated breakout season has garnered the 19-year-old plenty of attention, and rightly so, with the versatile midfielder seated at the top of his age group.
A study released Monday by the CIES confirms as much.
The study looks at league appearances by players in Europe's top five leagues based on age, with Alli standing out as the standard-bearer for players born in 1996 or later.
The versatile Milton Keynes-born midfielder (98 appearances) narrowly edges out Sporting Gijon's Alen Halilovic (97) and Villarreal's Matias Nahuel (85).
| Year Born | Player | Club | App. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Dele Alli | Tottenham | 98 |
| 1995 | Samu Castillejo | Villarreal | 129 |
| 1994 | Nathan Redmond | Norwich | 163 |
| 1993 | Romelu Lukaku | Everton | 210 |
| 1992 | Koke | Atletico Madrid | 236 |
| 1991 | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 277 |
| 1990 | James McCarthy | Everton | 295 |
| 1989 | Charlie Austin | Southampton | 320 |
| 1988 | Sergio Aguero | Manchester City | 368 |
The England international has seven league goals paired with five assists this campaign, including a stunning Goal of the Year nominee finish against Crystal Palace.
Alli, who signed with Tottenham in February 2015 for a meagre sum of £5 million from hometown MK Dons, has been emblematic of the successes of Mauricio Pochettino and his young squad this season.
Often starting 11 players with an average age of 25 or younger, the Argentine's high-energy brand of football has taken the Premier League by storm this season, with Spurs emerging as a viable title threat. Tottenham sits second in the table, two points adrift of Leicester City ahead of Wednesday's onerous trip to West Ham.
The CIES football observatory, a private foundation affiliated with the University of Neuchatel, has since 2005 compiled analysis of the sport, including demographics studies and performance inquiries on transfer values.