Mauricio Pochettino has told Monday Night Football, which was broadcast on Sky Sports, that he still feels Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli is an ‘amazing talent’.
Alli has had a massively difficult time at Tottenham recently, and was linked with an exit from the club again yesterday.
Alli is struggling just to make a match day squad at Spurs currently, with Jose Mourinho clearly not happy with his form.
But Pochettino had some positive words to say about the England international when he was asked about him last night.
“I’m not going to talk now the situation because I need to be respectful with Jose. It’s not my responsibility any more,” Pochettino said.
“I can only talk about Dele that he was an amazing player for us, from the beginning when he arrived from MK Dons. The hunger and the energy – always we were talking on the line, you knew to help him to ‘be careful’.
“I think it was amazing when he appeared, he was an amazing talent for England. He’s still young, but I think we enjoy a lot together.
“Another player that’s similar [to Maradona] with charisma is Ronaldinho and when it start with Dele Alli it was in this way, the kids loved him, like it was with Ronaldinho.”
Alli’s poor form is nothing new, and Pochettino actually had to deal with the 24-year-old’s performances dipping towards the end of his time in charge.
However, there was once a stage where Alli was one of the most feared attacking midfielders in England when Pochettino was at the helm.
Alli reached 18 Premier League goals back in 2016/17, but he has never really kicked on from those days – and is yet to hit double figures in a league season since.
His future at Tottenham is now seriously in doubt, as it seems that Mourinho simply does not class him as part of his first-team plans, despite the unquestionable level of talent that he has.
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