'Animal' Dele Alli the 'only person' to ever complete 'famous' Tottenham running test, reveals Kyle Walker

Walker once played alongside Dele, having secured his own transfer to Tottenham in 2009, and got to witness at close quarters what the talented playmaker is capable of. There was a time when Dele was considered to be one of the hottest prospects in world football.

He plundered 22 goals for Spurs in the 2016-17 campaign, allowing a second PFA Young Player of the Year award to be captured. It was around that time that La Liga giants Real Madrid were said to be sniffing around a man who has 37 senior international caps to his name.

Issues on and off the field began to catch up with Dele and he is now a free agent after being released by Italian side Como. He made just one substitute appearance for them, which saw a red card collected when facing AC Milan and Rossoneri loanee Walker.

That is his only outing since February 2023, with interest from potential new employers proving difficult to drum up. Videos are, however, being shared on social media of individual training programmes being worked through and Walker continues to talk up a close friend.

The ex-Spurs and Manchester City full-back, who joined Burnley in 2025, has told The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet: “We had the famous thing called the Gacon [running test] – whoever played for Tottenham will know the Gacon. It starts at 145m and you have 45-seconds to get there, you then walk up 5m [to another cone] and have to run back. It’s a continuous thing and there were 16 or 17 cones. The only person that I’ve ever seen complete it was Dele Alli – he was an animal at running.”

Walker severed ties with Spurs in 2017, when City came calling. He said of making that switch to the Etihad Stadium: “I had a good season at Tottenham where I was playing in a back five, with me and Danny Rose as full-backs and I got a call one day saying that they wanted to sign me. I was sceptical because I was comfortable at Tottenham. To go there, with Pep Guardiola, you’re thinking, ‘Am I ready for this step?’ I was 27 so it was now or never.”

On whether any other clubs came in for him, Walker added: “Chelsea. But I couldn’t have gone there because of the Tottenham and Chelsea rivalry. So, the only option was Manchester City.

“I think Bayern were flirting with the idea of singing me - and like with Gareth Bale, Daniel Levy wanted to send me over to Germany because he didn’t want to sell me to a competitor but as soon as I spoke with Pep and saw the project, not that I could ever foresee we’d achieve what we achieved, I knew that it was the right time for me to make that jump and I had to sink or swim.”

Walker admits to having early doubts at City, with life under Guardiola markedly different to what he and Dele were used to in London. He went on to say: “I remember getting off in the pre-season and you’ve got Kun Aguero who’s just balling around training – bad trainer, bad trainer but he turned it on in the game.

“I got back to my hotel room after and speaking to my dad saying, ‘I think I’ve made a mistake here.’ I went from a [Mauricio] Pochettino team of running hard and we’re going to run all over you, dominating that area and also with a little bit of quality from certain players we’re going to win the game, to looking now and thinking we’re doing hardly any running in pre-season because Pep doesn’t like running – we did a little bit but it was mainly with the ball.”

Guardiola’s methods ultimately paid off, with Walker becoming a six-time Premier League title winner with City. He also savoured six domestic cup successes, while a Champions League crown was captured as part of a historic Treble triumph in 2022-23. While Walker's career was taken to another level after leaving Spurs, Dele is hoping that he can get his back on track in 2026.

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