Only Mourinho will decide where Dele’s future lies

HOWEVER Dele Alli’s future is settled, it will be Jose Mourinho’s choice and Tottenham will back their manager.

Chairman Daniel Levy made his most important statement when he appointed Mourinho. It was essentially a sign of how badly he wanted success.

Having made that choice, he will allow Mourinho to run the team his way and decide who comes and goes, rather than regard Dele as a pet project who must be nurtured and kept at the club at all cost.

Although I am a big fan of Dele and the speed with which he made an impression in the Premier League and for England, it has gone badly for him lately, culminating in Mourinho blaming him for conceding a goal at Stoke last week.

If a new challenge comes up, taking that on might not be a bad decision for him. He’s only 24 with plenty of football to come. I think Mourinho is primarily trying to motivate him — we saw him do the same last season with Tanguy Ndombele — but if a Paris Saint-Germain or a Champions League club came in, a parting of the ways may suit everyone. Tongues will wag if Mauricio Pochettino takes the PSG job, though given the array of attacking talent they already have I’m not sure that Dele going there would necessarily be a great fit at the moment. Ability-wise, there is no question about Dele. But I left Liverpool in 2004, a club I supported as a kid and love to this day, because I wanted to play more football. You can see by Dele’s body language this has been a frustrating time. I don’t think he will want to stick around much longer if he isn’t getting game time.