The future of Tottenham de Dele in serious doubts after the slights of Mourinho

Have we seen the last of Dele in the Tottenham Hotspur jersey? The odds of that coming true are certainly more likely now than they were a couple of weeks ago. There are reports from multiple sources today suggesting that Spurs are trying to get rid of Dele, immediately after manager Jose Mourinho complained about the “lazy” players after last Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Everton.

First, some background: Dele stayed at home when the club went to Bulgaria to play Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the second qualifying round of the Europa League. That in itself is unusual but not unheard of, but Mourinho also knocked him out of the squad entirely in today’s 5-2 win at Southampton, with Mourinho saying he was not injured and that it was a management decision. There were reports that Dele was “surprised and disappointed” by the omission.

Combine that with the rumors that emerged in the days leading up to Gareth Bale’s signing that suggested Dele offered himself to Real Madrid as a sweetener to help smooth the deal, and you start to get the idea that José Mourinho wants him to leave. It seems inconceivable.

Now to the report. Here’s a tweet from Fabrizio Romano, who puts it in pretty harsh terms.

This is also backed up by a Jason Burt exclusive on The Telegraph (£), referenced in Fabrizio’s tweet, which claims that PSG have now opened talks with Spurs with a view to signing Dele before the close of the transfer window, either on loan or permanently.

I’m not sure what to think, but when the club decided to bring back Gareth Bale from Real Madrid, I didn’t think the other side of the coin was getting rid of a potential 24-year-old superstar. Certainly pour some cold water over everything as far as I’m concerned.

There are a lot of things here that we don’t know yet and don’t really understand that might clarify things in the future. There are questions about how Dele and the role he plays for Spurs fits into José Mourinho’s tactical system. Obviously, he’s had a stat drop the last few seasons, although to be fair, some of that was injury related.

It is possible that Dele himself wants a change of scenery and is ready to go, just as it is also possible that since Tanguy Ndombele seems to have regained José’s grace, he has transferred his anger to a new player. Say what you want about Mourinho, but he has definitely NOT earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to player relationships, even with the benefit of having the Amazon documentary in his corner.

Either way, it seems incredible that we are willing to cut the bait with a player of the obvious quality of Dele, when there are other players on the team who seem significantly more oversized. I don’t know where this is taking us, but I 100% don’t like it.

UPDATE (10:45 AM ET): A little more context from Ed Aarons, Ben Fisher, and Fabrizio Romano. PSG appears to offer a loan with an option to buy at the end of the season. There are also quotes from Mourinho on the state of Dele.

“The way the team is a puzzle, the bank is also a small puzzle. Have Toby on the bench [Alderweireld] and Serge [Aurier]and Moussa [Sissoko] and Gio [Lo Celso], [Erik] Lick it and [Steven] Bergwijn, I can’t have four wingers or three wingers on the bench and a number ten and then no defenders. Everything is a puzzle so, in these two games, Dele was left out, he will probably play on Tuesday and others will be left out ”.

[…]

The Spurs have said they hope Alli will stay, but when asked if he wants to stay with him, Mourinho replied: “I want a balanced team. That is what I want. Does it need to be euthanized? No. But a squad is a puzzle. We have a huge staff with very difficult numbers to manage. We have too many players for some positions and some of them are paying the price for this.

This is definitely one thing and it’s not going away.