Mourinho shatters Dele Alli hopes of Tottenham exit amid PSG transfer talk
Jose Mourinho has delivered a blow to Dele Alli’s hopes of leaving Tottenham by predicting no more business in the January transfer window.
Alli has dominated the gossip columns this month, with the midfielder heavily linked with a move to PSG.
The England international has fallen out of favour since Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino in 2019. Hence, there have been rumours that he could reunite with his old boss in Paris.
PSG would like a loan move for Alli, whereas Tottenham would only consider selling him for a high price. Doubts remain about the deal, but the Ligue 1 champions will keep pushing until the deadline.
Spurs boss Mourinho, though, is not expecting Alli to leave – or for any transfers to materialise, for that matter.
Asked at a press conference if he expected Alli to still be at the club next month, Mourinho said: “I expect, I’m saying that since beginning of the transfer window. Not expecting anyone to leave, not expecting anyone to come.
“I’m convinced nothing is going to happen. If something happened it would be a huge surprise for me.”
If Alli is to revive his Tottenham career, he could take inspiration from one of his teammates – Tanguy Ndombele.
The midfielder struggled with the transition to the Premier League after a club-record move from Lyon in 2019. However, this season, his form has improved dramatically.
Mourinho believes the credit for Ndombele’s resurgence belongs solely to the player.
He said: “Was him, his responsibility. We always showed him the right way and demand a lot from him.
“If I did anything positive with him I believe it was not to play him when he was not in real conditions to play. I believe that we used some of matches last season to expose his fragilities at the time.”
Mourinho satisfied with Rodon
Like Alli, another homegrown player hoping for more opportunities will be Joe Rodon, who joined from Swansea at the start of the season.
The defender, 23, has only started two Premier League games so far, but Mourinho is pleased with his progress.
He said: “Joe has a lot to learn but at the same time he has a lot of potential, he has great desire and I am really happy.
“We played him not many matches, unfortunately he was not in the Europa League matches which would have given him more matches and experience, but in the times we have paid him the answer was positive so we are happy with Joe and we believe that he can be only better.”
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