There have been so many young pretenders heralded as the next best thing when they don an England shirt that it is genuinely wise to take such claims with the proverbial pinch of salt.

David Bentley? Kieron Dyer? Even Joe Cole?

It was with that scepticism I watched the then-19-year-old Dele Alli make his first start for England against France at Wembley in November, 2015 in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.

You’ll likely remember his opener in the 2-0 win. The comfortable manner in which he opened his body to take the ball on his left foot from Wayne Rooney, carried it forward with the outside of his right before striking with his laces so precisely from 25 yards it left Tottenham Hotspur teammate Hugo Lloris hopelessly waving it on its way into the top corner.

What you might not remember, and the sloppier match reports failed to mention, was that it was Alli who started the move for England from the halfway line in the first place, sliding in to win a crunching tackle on France’s Morgan Schneiderlin.

An English midfielder with that much creative talent and a bit of bite? Salt of the earth stuff.

The word often used to describe the now 21-year-old is “mature” — that he has “a maturity” to his game.

It is easy to forget after all, that this is only his second season of Premier League football since his 5 million pounds — what a steal — move from MK Dons.

The uproar that his exclusion from the PFA Player of the Year award shortlist has created — he is, of course, almost guaranteed to land the young player gong — only exemplifies the impact he has made.

But watching the manner in which he approaches matches leaves you only with the impression that it won’t matter a bit — that he has the maturity to shrug the snub off and carry on as before.

Carry on with his head imperiously raised and constantly searching for the ball.

There are areas in which he could certainly grow. The reckless tackle for which he received a red card against Genk springs to mind, and also the petulant punch on West Brom midfielder Claudio Yacob which prematurely ended his campaign last season through suspension.

Every game now, however, he seems to make an impact, be it scoring goals or creating them.

It’s his ability to be more than just a creative midfielder — he’s as adept dropping back as he is making late runs.

Steven Gerrard — and as great as the Liverpool and England midfielder was, there’s another that could be added to the ‘did he achieve as much as he could?’ list with both club and country — has said that as well as Alli’s technique, there’s another quality he greatly admires.

The Spurs star’s “football arrogance” delights Gerrard, adding that Alli “absorbs every challenge and gets on the ball as if he belongs on the biggest of stages.”

But perhaps the biggest indicator is that while his omission from the Player of the Year shortlist has caused so much fuss, there was barely a murmur when his manager Mauricio Pochettino stated Alli is proof that England can produce world-class players to rival Spain, Brazil and Argentina. Pochettino added to this compliment by adding his young star has the potential to be better than Neymar.

Because already Alli looks as if his ‘footballing arrogance’ is perfectly suited to star at the biggest stages. Not just for club as Spurs look to make amends for this year’s Champions League disappointment next season, but maybe, just maybe, for country at the World Cup too.

And finally ...

Go Ahead Eagles forward Elvis Manu will have to learn to make more of a song and dance about things.

Manu has had his appeal against a one-match ban for handball overturned — despite footage suggesting the ball hit his chest for the red-card penalty decision against Heracles — because the Dutch FA claimed his refusal to protest the decision proved he knew he deserved to be sent off. His side lost 4-1 too.