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Paris St-Germain are interested in Tottenham forward Dele Alli.
The Champions League finalists are aware of the potential availability of the English international and the club’s most important figures are known to be fans of the 24-year-old.
Spurs sources insist they expect Alli to stay and fight for his place.
However, the player was not in the call for victories against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in the Europa League and Southampton in the Premier League.
Spurs coach José Mourinho has recently added to his attacking options with the signing of Gareth Bale from Real Madrid.
The Welsh international is expected to be in a position to join Mourinho’s squad after the international break in October.
By then, the transfer window will have closed and while Premier League clubs can do business after the October 5 deadline, they can only trade with English Football League clubs.
It means Alli has fifteen days to sort out her future or risk a long period on the sidelines until the January window opens.
Has Mourinho lost patience with Alli?
When they asked Mourinho after Tottenham’s 5-2 win over Southampton on Sunday if he wanted to stay with Alli, the lack of a definitive “yes” said so.
After a headline-dominated weekend of Bale’s arrival, it was Alli’s omission from the Spurs team that provided an intriguing subplot.
So far, Alli has played just 45 minutes of football this season, starting in a 1-0 loss to Everton in Spurs’ Premier League opener before being replaced at halftime.
Before Sunday’s victory, Mourinho said only about Alli’s exclusion from the team that he had “too many players” in certain positions.
When asked later if Alli had a future at Tottenham, the manager responded positively and said: “Yes, of course.”
But when asked if he wants to retain him, the Portuguese coach was a bit more lazy.
“I want a balanced team, that’s what I want,” he said. “You don’t need to be sacrificed for that, but a team is a puzzle.”
Stay and fight or on the go: what’s next for Alli?
Despite missing the last two games for Tottenham, Alli is set to earn a retirement for his next game – the Carabao Cup third-round trip to Leyton Orient.
“He will play on Tuesday,” added Mourinho. “He’s cool. He has to be motivated to be out of the team for a couple of games.
“Tuesday is a knockout game and it’s a great opportunity for him to show how good he is because we know he is very good.”
Season | Games played | Goals |
2015-16 | 33 | 10 |
2016-17 | 37 | 18 |
2017-18 | 36 | 9 |
2018-19 | 25 | 5 |
2019-20 | 25 | 8 |
2020-21 | one | 0 |
His new status, having to prove himself against opponents in League Two, is a fall from grace for a player who was once among the top names on the team roster for the club and the country, but is now out. of the favor of both.
Mourinho hinted on Sunday that the players may need to leave so he can cut the size of his squad, and in addition to PSG’s interest in Alli, Real Madrid are also keeping an eye on the situation.
“We have a huge squad, a squad with numbers that are very difficult to manage,” Mourinho said. “I never had it, I don’t like having it and it’s not easy for me.
“I start with Son [Heung-min], with Lucas [Moura] and with Harry Kane and on the bench I still have Moussa Sissoko, Erik Lamela and Steven Bergwijn.
“We have too many players for some positions and some of them are paying the price for this.”
From a certain owner to outside the team
After joining Tottenham from MK Dons in 2015, Alli became one of Europe’s most prized attackers under former boss Mauricio Pochettino.
He reached double figures of goals in his first two seasons as a club and less than three years ago he scored twice in a Tottenham’s famous victory against Real Madrid in the Champions League
But by the time of Mourinho’s arrival in November last year, his form had already started to falter as he battled injuries and poor performances.
Competition | The games began | Alternate appearances | Goals |
Premier league | sixteen | 3 | 6 |
Champions League | 3 | 0 | one |
FA Cup | 5 | two | 0 |
Everything under José Mourinho in 2020-21 | |||
Premier league | one | 0 | 0 |
European League | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Initially, Mourinho seemed determined to help Alli get back to his best level, saying he wanted to bring “the real Dele back,” and named him to his starting eleven in his first 11 games in charge.
But in the recent Amazon documentary ‘All or nothing: Tottenham’, there are indications that Mourinho has found that difficult task, and Alli finished last season on the bench in successive Premier League games.
In one episode of the documentary, he describes Alli as a “lazy guy” in training, and then tells club president Daniel Levy that “we have to find motivation” for the England international.
In another episode, Mourinho calls Alli to his office and challenges the midfielder to realize his potential, telling him: “One day I think you will regret it if you do not achieve what you can achieve.”
Mourinho’s decision to exclude Alli from his recent teams could be a last ditch effort to motivate the player, or a sign that he has lost patience with him.