It has been claimed that Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho is secretly hoping that Dele Alli fails.
Alli’s Spurs career took another nightmare turn on Thursday when Mourinho started him and substituted him midway through the 1-0 defeat by Antwerp in the Europa League.
Given the fact that the 24-year-old had struggled to make his manager’s squad at times this season, being taken off at half-time really isn’t an indication that his prospects are going to improve in North London anytime soon.
The Portuguese coach refused to analyse Alli’s performance when asked about it in his post-match press conference.
And Stewart Robson has told ESPN that there’s no way back for the England international in North London, claiming that the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss does not want the player to succeed anymore.
He said: “Jose Mourinho doesn’t want convincing. He probably wanted one or two of those players not to play particularly well, just so he can say to the press, ‘That’s why I’m not picking them.’ Dele Alli knows that Mourinho doesn’t fancy them. It’s never going to change because Mourinho doesn’t want them to play particularly well.
“He’s never going to get back to the form he showed two years ago while Jose Mourinho is the manager because the manager doesn’t fancy that player. He’s not going to give him many opportunities and when he does he’s almost hoping that he fails.”
It’s a pretty astounding claim by the former Arsenal defender, it has to be said. And let’s be honest, one that probably isn’t true.
Mourinho’s job is pretty simple at the end of the day: it boils down to winning trophies and the former Real Madrid boss is long enough in football to know that his chances of succeeding, his chances of winning trophies, goes up in a big way if Alli can find the level that he showed under Mauricio Pochettino.
It’s an interesting theory by Robson but, truthfully, it’s nonsense.
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