Lampard defends Dele Alli after lifestyle criticism

FRANK LAMPARD
Manager, Everton
"When you’re working closely with players and working with Dele [Alli], my personal opinion is that I don’t care what car he drives, what clothes he wears, as long as I get a lad who comes to training every day and wants to improve every day, respects the club, respects his team-mates and then produces and gives everything to produce. I think the modern-day has moved on and it’s changed. We all have to be very aware of that, and again, I’m not hitting back at any form of observation because everyone’s allowed their own opinion. But I can only deal with what’s in front of me, and when I’ve just mentioned that Dele and Donny [van de Beek] are both great lads, I mean it. And maybe Donny wears an overcoat that's longer than what Dele wears, a different kind of jacket. That doesn’t bother me as long as they produce on the pitch. Everyone has their own individual personality. To try and handcuff that or restrict that, I think, could be detrimental. So as I say, as long as players do the right behaviors when it comes to football and do the right things, I’ve got no worries."