With Harry Kane out injured, it’s obvious that Tottenham would be missing his threat and his ‘magic’ in front of goal.
But, speaking to his pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Jose Mourinho admitted that Tottenham are missing the ‘magic’ of two players who haven’t started a game in 2021 – Dele Alli and Giovani Lo Celso.
For Lo Celso, injuries have kept him in the treatment room, but for Alli, who had a face-to-face conversation with Mourinho yesterday, it’s a different story.
The attack-minded midfielder has only managed to muster 74 minutes of Premier League football this term, but Mourinho admitted that Spurs ‘need’ the England international.
“We need him,” said Mourinho. “We need a good Dele Alli. And we are just waiting for him to be back to normality. To be back to training with the team.
“It’s not just Dele. When you look, it’s Dele, Kane, Gio Lo Celso. We are speaking about players, without those three, we miss a little bit of some creation and of some magic in the attacking areas.
“So, we need him back. I made that very sure to him.”
It was well-documented that Alli wanted a move away from North London, with a certain Mauricio Pochettino trying to lure him to PSG.
Spurs take on Chelsea in an all-London affair tonight, and interestingly enough, the man in the opposition dugout, Thomas Tuchel, was PSG boss when those Alli rumours first came about.
Nonetheless, during these coming weeks, it will be interesting how Mourinho uses Alli and whether he pushes him back into the starting fold.
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