Kyle Walker caught on cam gesticulating to Laporte that Dele Alli “dives all the time”

The year is 2019, and “diving” is well and truly a part of the game. The act of manipulating your movements during tight situations to convince the referee and make it seem as though one has been fouled, is what diving is all about. Most commonly occurring inside the box to obtain a penalty, officials and governing bodies are doing everything they can to curb the “dive” menace.

With all the things going on in the world of football, Dele Alli’s name seems to pop up often when talking about dives, having earned the notorious reputation of feigning fouls at Tottenham.

The latest occurrence in relation to Alli diving came in the first half of the Champions League quarter-final between Tottenham and Manchester City. Dele Alli appeared to go down easily, and this did not set well with Man City right-back, Kyle Walker.

Kyle Walker and Dele Alli in happier times

The former Tottenham player can be seen talking to fellow City defender Aymeric Laporte on the TV broadcast. It appears as though Walker is warning Laporte about Alli’s tendency to dive. He makes a gesture with his hands that resembles a dive, and fans believe that he is mouthing the words, “He’ll dive every time”.

Now, does he say ‘he’ll dive every time’? #TOTMCI #Alli and what a dive by the way! I’m sure these Sp*rs players practice diving in training. pic.twitter.com/Y41MrTrHjT

— Sam Marley (@SamMarleyxxx) April 9, 2019

Walker would know a lot about Alli’s tendencies, given that they were teammates at Tottenham before Walker’s departure to City.

Add to this, the dynamic that they are regular starters for England, it’s safe to assume that the next training session for the both of them will be interesting, if not, awkward.

Whether those were his actual words to Laporte, we may never know. But in the whole context of the situation, it seemed to fit the bill that Walker would give his teammate the heads-up.