Alli challenged to earn his Spurs after Mourinho says he’s staying
TOTTENHAM Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho expects Dele Alli to still be at the club when the transfer window closes and will give him the chance to prove his worth.
Alli was taken off at half-time of the opening day defeat to Everton and left out of the following two games and has been linked with a move to Paris St Germain in recent days.
But he will travel to North Macedonia for the Europa League third-round qualifying against Shkendija tonight.
When asked if he expected Alli to stay, Mourinho said: “I believe, I can even say I am convinced, that he will be.
“I always told you that he will have his opportunities, that there’s no problem at all to have him and, like every other player, performances are very important.
“He’s coming, he has a chance to play and it will be important for him to perform. It will be important for him and every other player, when the squad becomes
clash competitive in many positions, it’s important for every player on the pitch to have an answer and perform.
“I always feel that 99 per cent of the responsibility is the player. I have one per cent.
“Players have to prove on the pitch with their performance, prove how good they are in that specific moment. Tomorrow he is selected, no decision yet about starting or being on the bench, but when he is selected he has chances to play.
“If he is on the pitch one minute or 90 minutes he has to show us, it’s that simple.”
Mourinho will take a fullstrength squad to Macedonia as they try to make it through to a play-off against either FC Rostov or Maccabi Haifa next week.
Spurs’ preparations for the game were thrown into chaos after their planned Carabao Cup clash with Leyton Orient was called off on Tuesday due to a spate of coronavirus infections at the League Two club.
It does at least mean that their players will have extra rest and will likely see Mourinho name as close to his first XI as possible.
“The team that was supposed to play last night is different to the team that plays tomorrow,” Mourinho added. “The main reason is that we played last Sunday at Southampton and one thing is Sunday,tuesday and another is Sunday, Thursday.
“So this is a normal situation for a football player of this level to have three days rest and to play again on Thursday. Normal.
“It’s not normal to play Sunday and then play Tuesday.”