Dele Alli released by Como and is a free agent as Championship clubs emerge as potential suitors

Como confirmed on Monday that midfielder Dele Alli and the club had mutually agreed to terminate the 18-month contract the player signed in early 2024, leaving the former England international a free agent and prompting immediate links with several Championship clubs.

Alli’s spell in Italy yielded a single substitute appearance of 10 minutes in March — a cameo that ended with a straight red card after a challenge on England team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek was upgraded from a yellow to a red following a VAR review. That remains the only senior action he has recorded in roughly the last two-and-a-half years, according to match records and club statements.

Reports in Italy and Britain have linked Alli, 29, with Birmingham City, Wrexham and West Bromwich Albion as clubs that could consider signing him. Birmingham’s recent investment and profile-raising ownership involvement have prompted speculation about recruitment plans, while Wrexham’s high-profile backers and summer spending have been cited as factors that might attract a player of Alli’s name recognition. West Brom are managed by Ryan Mason, a former Tottenham team-mate who briefly reintroduced Alli to first-team training during his interim spell at Spurs; media coverage has suggested West Brom could offer a lower-profile environment to rebuild form.

Those reported approaches come amid questions about Alli’s fitness, form and off-field matters. Como manager Cesc Fàbregas is reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport to have removed Alli from the club’s main training group earlier this summer and assigned him to a secondary training group often described in Italian media as the squad for players not currently in first-team plans. Como indicated there were recurring injury issues during Alli’s time with the club and did not include him in matchday plans after the red card incident.

Alli rose to prominence at Tottenham Hotspur, where he scored and created goals at a prodigious rate as a teenager and young man. By 21 he had tallied a strong goals-and-assists record in the Premier League and became a regular for England. His subsequent career has included loan and permanent moves away from Spurs, with spells at Everton and Besiktas before the move to Como. Media coverage has charted the shift from early promise to a more nomadic period in recent seasons.

Off the field, Alli has publicly discussed a number of personal struggles. In recent years he has spoken about childhood trauma and a battle with sleeping-pill addiction that led him to spend time in a US rehabilitation facility. He also disclosed the death of a childhood friend, fellow professional footballer George Baldock, and earlier this year British media reported the end of his relationship with model Cindy Kimberly. Those matters have formed part of feature interviews and news coverage of his life away from football.

Alli’s career trajectory and his physical condition have sparked debate in football coverage about whether he can return to the level he reached at Tottenham. Former managers and team-mates have been a visible presence at points during his recent spells; team-mates Harry Kane and Eric Dier were photographed visiting Como and meeting players during Alli’s time at the club.

It remains unclear whether any of the Championship clubs linked in recent reports will lodge formal offers. Italian outlets have also at times suggested Alli was considering retirement, though no official statement from the player announcing retirement has been issued. Any move would require medical clearance and agreement on personal terms, while prospective suitors will likely weigh his fitness history and recent lack of match action alongside his experience and marketability.

Alli has previously indicated an ongoing commitment to the game; in interviews last year he spoke of long-term ambitions, including an expressed desire related to international competition. For now, his immediate future will be determined by whether a club is prepared to take on a player with a high-profile past and a recent period of limited playing time.