Stan Collymore urges Gareth Southgate to build England team around Dele Alli

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The former England striker believes Alli, along with Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, ks the key man in England’s future.

Former England striker Stan Collymore has written for the Mirror that Gareth Southgate should build his hopes of becoming full-time Three Lions boss around Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford.

Alli has made a name for himself since making his Spurs debut at the start of last season and enjoyed a superb debut campaign for the club last term.

In all competitions the 20-year-old midfielder score 10 goals in 46 appearances for the North London club, and he was the runaway winner of the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

Alli has already racked up 13 senior England caps, but he was left out of the starting XI in former manager Sam Allardyce’s only game in charge of the Three Lions.

However, his former Under-21s manager Southgate is now in charge in the interim as the FA search for a new full-time boss, and the manager’s former Aston Villa teammate has urged him to build his team around Alli.

Collymore wrote in the Mirror: “Alli and Rashford are the future of English football and if you’re looking at getting a partnership going between two players who can score goals and be creative then they would be the two you’d choose.

“Alli hasn’t started this season quite as brightly [as Rashford] but he has the sort of talent that should see him become a mainstay in the team unless his form drops away completely.

“Now it’s up to the young Tottenham star to show he feels he is one of the most important players in the England team as well as the Spurs team. That means getting on the ball and making things happen. I want to see Alli blossom and under Southgate – a man who already knows him well from their time together with the Under-21s – he can do that.”

Alli has started the current season well enough for Spurs without doing anything extraordinary, scoring twice in nine appearances so far in all competitions.

He will be hoping to win his 14th cap as a member of Southgate’s starting XI when England return to World Cup qualifying action against minnows Malta on Sunday.