Dele Alli absent from past two Tottenham squads and PSG among European clubs reportedly interested in loan deal.
The 24-year-old was hooked off at half-time during the poor defeat to Everton on the opening weekend, and has been absent from the Spurs squad entirely for the subsequent wins over Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Southampton.
Following Sunday’s 5-2 victory on the south coast – and amid reports a number of clubs, including Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain, are interested in signing Alli in this transfer window – Mourinho pointed out he wants a balanced squad and that Alli is just one of a number of attacking options he has.
Gareth Bale’s headline-grabbing arrival on loan from Real Madrid has further strengthened Mourinho’s resources in that department and while the manager says he is still looking for another striker, Bale is likely to form a first-choice front-three with Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane, the stars of that win at Southampton.
There is then Erik Lamela, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn – all players Mourinho has praised in the past – vying for attacking roles, as well as Alli. Further back down the pitch, Giovanni Lo Celso and Gedson Fernandes – who will also act as cover at right-back – come into the reckoning, too.
When Mourinho was asked on Sunday whether Alli could be in that ‘balanced squad’ he is trying to create, he said he could and doesn’t need to be sacrificed. But clearly, despite the rotation required to manage Tottenham’s intense schedule – and it is particularly brutal right now – there will be players mentioned above who will have to make way for Mourinho’s preferred choices.
After Alli’s recent omissions and within the context of the recent documentary about Spurs last season, in which the player was critical of the team’s tactics and Mourinho described him as ‘lazy‘ in training, it is clear he has work to do to move back up the pecking order.
It’s all a far cry from just two and a half years ago when former boss Mauricio Pochettino was describing Alli as the best 21-year-old in the world. Those comments came after Alli had ended a 16-match goal drought with a strike against Bournemouth.
Source: skysport.com