NO PSG ESCAPE FOR ALLI
DELE ALLI could be forgiven for hoping for a reunion with Mauricio Pochettino at Paris Saint-germain. Under the former Tottenham manager, he went from League One to starting a Champions League final. Under current Spurs boss Jose Mourinho, Alli has not begun a Premier League match since the first weekend of the season and could instead line up against eighth-tier Marine in the FA Cup today.
But if Pochettino’s arrival in Paris appears to offer an escape route, Alli may have to think again.
David Webb, the talent-spotter who discovered Wilfried Zaha and worked with Pochettino on recruitment at Tottenham, reckons his old ally is unlikely to offer an early lifeline to either Alli or Christian Eriksen, who also produced the best football of his career for the Argentinian at Spurs s but has now lost his place at Inter Milan.
Webb said: “He knows Eriksen and Dele really well. He had a fantastic relationship with both players and accelerated their development quite rapidly.
“But knowing him, he will first of all take a good look at the squad. That might take a bit of time, so I would imagine in
January he will be taking a broad view first before making any decisions on who needs to be added.”
That star-studded squad Pochettino has taken over includes
Neymar. The
Brazilian’s reluctance to track back has posed problems for previous
PSG managers, such as the sacked Thomas
Tuchel, but Webb feels
Pochettino has the persuasive
powers to make Neymar work harder for the team and adopt his pressing game.
“One of Poch’s key strengths is that he is an excellent people person, so I am sure he will get Neymar to buy into his football,” Webb said. “In terms of pressing, there will be a key role where Neymar will get to use both sides of his game to good effect.”
If Pochettino made stars at Spurs – most notably Harry Kane and Alli – he has inherited them at PSG. It presents a different test of his man-management but Webb believes he can pass it.
“Neymar (below) and
Kylian Mbappe are the superstar players he has at his disposal and I think he will see them as world-class,” he said. “But he will work on their human side to get the best out of them.”
PSG could move for Lionel Messi when his contract at Barcelona expires in the summer. Webb is not sure he would be a top target for Pochettino but believes Poch could alter his approach to build a team around his countryman. “He is clever enough as a coach to work him into his system,” Webb said.