Dele Alli has shared with Goal his excitement for playing under Nuno Espirito Santo and targeting the best version of himself for Tottenham Hotspur next season.
The midfielder admits he has endured a tough few years in north London as his form and importance regressed. But Alli is looking forward to proving himself under a new head coach, who he believes did a great job during his four years at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Alli played the fewest minutes of his Premier League career last term after Jose Mourinho cast him into the wilderness. The 25-year-old only featured for 617 minutes over 15 games, of which 385 came after Ryan Mason took interim charge in April with six games to play.
A lack of minutes also meant Alli struggled to show the same creativity that Tottenham had seen in previous years. He ended the term with just a single assist and no goals to his name for the first time. It was a far cry from his 18 goals in 2016/17 or 11 assists in 2017/18.
“He [Nuno] has done a great job at Wolves,” Alli said. “I am looking forward to speaking to him and working with him. He is a great manager, and it is exciting times. I want to make this year one of the best I have had.
“A lot of people have said I need to find the form I was in a few years ago. For me, I don’t even want to get to that, I want to go past that and reach my full potential to be the best player I can be. It has been a tough few years, but I have been working hard and analysing what I need to do to get better.”
Nuno must revive Alli at Tottenham next season
Nuno will be spinning plenty of plates at Tottenham this summer, but reviving Alli’s career will be of high importance. The midfielder has the potential to take the Premier League by storm when playing at his best. But he also has a big mountain to climb to get back to that.
The Spurs boss will be glad to see the £100,000-per-week maestro has accepted he has work to do before they speak, though. It shows Nuno that Alli is committed to being his best self for Tottenham again, and is ready to work.
Alli being excited to play under Nuno is another positive for Tottenham, after some players were concerned about Antonio Conte. It seems that Chairman Daniel Levy has found in the Portuguese a coach the players will respond to well.
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