Tottenham insider feels it’s a ‘shame’ about Dele Alli after Harry Kane Ballon d’Or win

Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Ballon d'Or — There's a shame around Dele Alli after Harry Kane's Ballon d'Or victory

Tottenham insider John Wenham has detailed the “shame” surrounding Dele Alli after former Tottenham team-mate Harry Kane won the 2026 Ballon d’Or.

England captain Kane won the 2026 Ballon d’Or after 73 goals for club (Bayern Munich) and country last season. The former Spurs striker won the Bundesliga and helped England to third place at the World Cup.

He became the first Englishman since 2001, and only the fifth ever, to win football’s most prestigious award.

Celebrating with him were a number of his former Tottenham colleagues.

Wenham told Tottenham News: “Obviously delighted for him, it’s really nice to see a lot of his former Tottenham colleagues, and Tim Sherwood as well was there.

“Tom Carroll, Ryan Mason, Matt Doherty, Eric Dier, these are guys he was very close with, playing golf when they were at Tottenham.”

Shame Dele Alli wasn’t present

Wenham does think, though, it’s a shame Dele wasn’t there with his former team-mate. He and Kane have played together 233 times during their careers, for Tottenham and England, with joint participation in 31 goals.

Wenham said: “I was a little bit sad in a way that Dele Alli wasn’t there, but I also understand it, I gathered that from that Twitch, Dele Alli’s doing this live Twitch phone calls thing, and when he called up Harry Kane, it sounded like they hadn’t caught up for two or three years.

“It’s not like they’re in contact every day and it’s a bit of a shame really because they were the two young English faces of that Tottenham team.

“It’s kind of a shame, you can’t force friendships in life, but it’s a shame how that’s kind of ended up with Dele Alli, you know, on the outside of that kind of thing.

“I know he’s doing the online phone calls and stuff but it all seems a little bit like he’s not part of it.”

Indeed, Dele called Kane on stream prior to the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

“I haven’t spoken to you for a while, mate,” Kane said.

The Bayern striker then asked Dele where he was living and what he had going on, to which he responded he’d update him off stream.

“Working I hard, I hope,” Kane said to his former team-mate.

Dele then added: “They’ve been saying Ballon d’Or, and I’ve been saying it has to go to one man and one man only.”