£100m Dele worth more than Pogba
HARRY REDKNAPP’S VERDICT ON SPURS’ SUPER MIDFIELDER
HARRY REDKNAPP believes that Dele Alli is a better player than Paul Pogba and if the Manchester United star is worth £89million then the Tottenham player’s value would top £100m.
“If Pogba’s nearly £90m, Alli is worth more,” said Redknapp. “He’s 20 years of age. The kid has got everything – he scores goals, makes goals, can head it, run, dribble, got an edge to him, puts his foot in. I think he’s fantastic.”
He also believes that United have only got themselves to blame for not having both of them in their team.
Alli was part of the Milton Keynes Dons side that beat United 4-0 in the Capital One Cup in 2014-15.
“Can you tell me how all those people failed to spot him when he played for MK Dons every week?” said Redknapp.
“How did they end up waiting until it took Spurs to go in and take him? How did they not see him when he played against United that night? United should have signed him then and there.
“At least they’d have had a future star for the club with them on the team bus going home.”
Instead, Alli will be in the colours of Tottenham as they prepare to face Ghent in Belgium tonight in the last 32 of the Europa League.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino has been taking the competition much more seriously than Redknapp did as Spurs boss and while he thinks they can lift the trophy, he fears it could come at a cost.
“If they want to win it, they’ve got a team that’s good enough,” said Redknapp. “They’d be my favourites. But it’s going to be a juggling act.
“I can’t say I enjoyed the tournament. You leave some players behind so you’re fragmented. By the time you get back it’s Friday afternoon. It broke the week up. You weren’t together as a group.
“You play your best team and you take a chance. If you look at the teams who have played in the competition over the last few seasons, their league form hasn’t been the same.
“It has certainly been a disadvantage to them.”
Pochettino revealed yesterday that his players begged him to let them make amends tonight for their poor display at Liverpool last Saturday.
The 2-0 defeat at Anfield further dented their already slim hopes of winning the Premier League title and the manager said: “With what happened against Liverpool, all the players want the chance to play again and try to change the feeling.
“Sometimes, when your performance is not good and a game has touched your pride, you don’t need to kill them.
“The first man to kill is myself because I am responsible. We dropped our performance, our energy, our desire maybe. We showed that lack of being competitive and that surprised us.
“We tried to talk a lot, to understand why, learn about what happened from the beginning of the game.
“It’s difficult to come back when you’re 2-0 down after 16 minutes and it should have been 3-0 when Lloris stopped Mane scoring.
“To concede three goals in five minutes when you’ve conceded 15 in 22 games before…it’s about learning from it and trying to get what the best options will be in future games.”
Tonight Pochettino is expected to keep faith with the majority of the players who started at Anfield and field a weaker side in the FA Cup fifth-round tie at Fulham on Sunday.
Skipper Hugo Lloris called on his team-mates to put the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Champions League group stage behind them.
Spurs dropped into the Europa League after finishing third in their Champions League group.
The Frenchman said: “We need to turn the page. We need to use this disappointment as an experience and we will fight until the end of the season to get back into the Champions League.”
WATCH Ghent v Spurs in the Europa League exclusively live on BT Sport 3 from 5.30pm tonight.