Dele Alli celebration: Tottenham star reveals the unlikely inspiration behind his viral hand signal
The 22-year-old sparked a social media craze with his hand gesture - known as the 'Dele Alli challenge' - with other footballers, sports stars and celebs trying to master it
DELE ALLI has revealed the real inspiration behind his goal celebration - Jamie Vardy's kids.
The popular England and Tottenham midfielder sparked a social media frenzy with the hand gesture - known as the 'Dele Celebration'.
The 22-year-old, who first unveiled the celebration after scoring at Newcastle on the opening day of the season, says the gesture was down to a conversation he had with his England team-mate's children.
: “When we were at the World Cup, there were a few days when the families could come to the hotel.
“One afternoon, Jamie Vardy’s kids were around and they asked me if I could do it.
"I could but then I watched the other boys struggling, it was funny.
“I heard afterwards that Jesse Lingard’s brother had showed them how to do it, so I don’t actually know where it came from and who made it up.
"But when I was on holiday with my friends we all kept doing it, so I shared it.
"I didn’t think it was going to go as mad as it did. It’s just a bit of fun.”
Alli then revealed a second challenge - far more complex than the inaugural one.
The former MK Dons man posted a tutorial on how to do it on Instagram - taking two hoops from his fingers for his eye to look through, while in the first he made just one hoop.
Georges-Kévin N'Koudou, his Spurs team-mate, was next to him throughout and struggled to replicate the celebration.
Alli's recent revelation come after one recent report suggested Muslim conspiracy theorists were speculating the ‘Dele Challenge’ was a salute to the devil in the form of a tribute to evil figure Dajjal.
