Dele ‘pinned against a wall’ by Robbo and Dons team-mate for smirking

Dele Alli is one of MK Dons’ favourite sons, but he found ways of rubbing his former team-mates and manager the wrong way, Karl Robinson admitted.

As a teenager, Dele burst onto the scene in 2012, making 88 appearances and scoring 24 goals for the club before making his high-profile move to Tottenham Hotspur in 2015.

A part of some of Dons’ biggest moments - beating QPR in the FA Cup, winning 4-0 against Manchester United and guiding the club to the Championship - prior to his departure, Dele is still remembered fondly by those at Stadium MK, despite his recent career downturn.

That’s not to say he didn’t wind his team-mates and indeed manager up during that time though. Speaking about his former player on TalkSport, Karl Robinson, recently sacked by Oxford United, told of one incident involving his then teenage prodigy which saw him lose his rag.

“I remember pinning him up against the wall at times,” said Robinson, who led Dons for six-and-a-half years. “I remember him being dragged in a dressing room once by a senior player because he had this look on his face which was a smirk – I lost it with him and a senior player lost it with him as well.

“He wasn’t smirking, it was just him. I remember speaking to him after and he said ‘gaffer, I wasn’t trying to be rude or disrespectful’.

“When you listen to him you go, ‘Oh okay, I get you a little bit more’.

“The more you’re with him and the more time you spend with him, the more you understand him and the more he is a kind and caring human being.”