I’M NOT TAKING THEMK

Dele can’t wait to go home and he’s been bigging up Spurs’ temporary base in Milton Keynes to all his pals

DELE ALLI hopes Milton Keynes lives up to expectations after joking he has “bigged up” his home town and former club to his team-mates.

Dele (above) is one man who will be pleased Tottenham’s EFL Cup tie against Watford was moved to Stadium MK, with Wembley unavailable and their new stadium not ready.

The clash will see the attacker return to the club where it all began, for the first time since he left to join Spurs.

Dele, 22, said: “I’m looking forward to it. It was the place I grew up and the club have done a lot for me. I’ve bigged it up a lot to the other boys, so I’m hoping it lives up to expectations. I’ve just told them that it’s a great place.

“With the boys from Belgium and stuff, I say it’s better than the villages where they are from, and we have a bit of banter.

“I heard the rumours before – that it could be a possibility (playing at MK) – and I was trying to push it as much as I could!

“It will be nice for Tottenham fans to come down as well. It’s a great stadium and I’m sure they’ll have a great time there. Hopefully, we can get the win for them. Every competition is important. We want to win trophies. We feel like we deserve to, so we have to just make sure we put in strong performances in all competitions.”

Dele (right) came through the ranks at

MK Dons and played 88 times and scored 24 goals for the club before joining Spurs in February 2015 for an initial £5million. He said: “It will mean a lot to go back. I was there from when I was 10 or 11 and I went through a lot of ups and downs in my career.

“There were a lot of great managers who helped me through that and helped me to improve as a player and as a person as well. “I can’t thank them enough for what they have done for me. They really helped me to progress as a player and be ready for the Premier League.

“It was sad when I left, but, at the same time, I knew it was what I had to do, and I’m happy with how things have panned out.”

Dele has happy League Cup memories at Stadium MK, having been part of the MK Dons side which stunned Manchester United 4-0. But, when asked his favourite memory at his former ground, he said: “Probably the one against Yeovil at home – the game where we got promoted.

“We were winning quite comfortably late in the game and we were looking out for the other result.

“We heard the fans cheering, so we were sort of playing keep-ball and trying to see the game out, just watching the fans’ reaction to see if we’d gone up or not.”