I have been working towards this summer since childhood, says Alli

Midfielder tells Jason Burt his decisions were always geared towards playing for England at the World Cup

There is a phrase that comes into Dele Alli’s head as he contemplates his journey from playing football as a kid in a “concrete cage” in the Bradwell area of Milton Keynes, where money was tight, boots were borrowed and opportunities limited, to going to a World Cup with England.

“Unbelievable and believable,” Alli says. It was a line used in an interview by Russ, an American hip-hop artist and it resonates with the midfielder. “He was asked about his rise, and he said it was unbelievable and believable at the same time,” Alli explains. “I felt like I could relate to that.

“There are times when you think this is unbelievable: I’m going to the World Cup to play for England, but at the same time, you think this is what I have been working towards the whole time I have been playing football.

“Every decision I have made, every time I have had to bounce back from something, is for this. Coming to the Premier League, making the decision to join Tottenham [from MK Dons in 2015], I have worked hard my whole life. So, at the same time, it is believable because it’s what you have been working for.”

That grounding is never far from Alli. The 22-year-old talks about the work ethic, the determination, the need to be “ruthless” but also the tricks and flicks he learnt playing street football, the need to have “fun” and, interestingly, how he equates, more than once, given his challenging background, playing for this England squad to being “like family”.

“It was all about having fun, getting nutmegs, things like that,” he says of those games in the cage as he grew up, pleading with the other boys to let him play. “It’s important you enjoy it. That’s why we started football, because we loved it. And why people watch it. You never know what’s going to happen. I like to entertain. Obviously, it’s a lot more serious now, but I still like to keep that in my game.”

It is important also, Alli (right) says, in another instructive comment, to stay instinctive. “I feel I play better when I’m not thinking about too much of what I’m doing,” he says. “Just focusing and trying to play as well as I can. When I worry too much about the game or look too much into how I’ve been playing, things start to go worse. I try to work hard on my finishing and work hard on the field, but, off the field, I don’t like to look back on it too much. I know when I’ve had a bad game. You think about what you can improve on, but that’s for the training pitch.

“There’s always room for improvement. No one’s perfect. I’m sure if you asked Messi or Ronaldo, they would say they can improve on something. I want to keep improving. I’m working with a good manager at the minute [Gareth Southgate] who’s hungry to help every player. “I’m excited. I don’t want to put a limit on what I can achieve. I’ve just got to focus on the now. People can look too far into the future. They don’t enjoy what’s happening now, don’t get the best out of themselves. That’s what I’m trying to do. I feel I’ve got a great opportunity and I’m in a great place.”

His Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, who he also heaps praise on, hailed Alli as the best in the world for his age, and Sir Alex Ferguson called him “probably the best young midfielder I have seen since Gascoigne”. So, the question for Alli is not about talent – but temperament.

There was the middle finger raised during England’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, red cards – although not this season – bans and reckless challenges that could be costly as opponents attempt to rile him.

“That’s not going to be a problem,” Alli insists. “Obviously, I’ve done some things before and people seem to think that will be a problem, but it’s not.

I am a big believer in that you have to make mistakes to learn from them. And, yeah, I feel I learnt from things I did before, but it’s not something I worry about at all. You know, I feel I’ve got everything under control.”

There has been a debate as to whether Alli has “kicked on” – in fact, his World Cup place is under threat from Jesse Lingard, and he was dropped for a recent England friendly, but he says: “If this is a bad season for me, I’m happy to take that as a compliment. If I have a bad game, I know it. I am my own biggest critic. If you have the right focus, everything else is just noise. My focus is on being the best player I can be.”

To do that, Alli believes he needs focus. “Technically and mentally, you have to be ruthless. I want to be ruthless, to do everything better,” he says. “I think I’ve said before that Steven Gerrard was a big idol of mine. The way he played the game, always scored in big moments, the way he led his team, and the big thing for me was how passionate he was, no matter what shirt he had on. You could see losing was the end of the world for him. That’s what it feels like at times.”

How will England fare in Russia? “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but we are going there to win it,” Alli says. “We have to have that attitude and mentality. For a lot of us, it is our first World Cup, but we know the quality we have in the squad and anything is possible.”

That would be unbelievable.