Garth Crooks has blasted Jose Mourinho for the way he has treated Dele Alli and advised the Tottenham midfielder to get away from the club as soon as possible.
Alli has found himself on the fringe of the squad for the majority of the campaign so far but it appeared as if he could be offered a route back into Mourinho’s plans when the midfielder made back to back Premier League substitute appearances against Crystal Palace and Liverpool a couple of weeks back.
The former MK Dons man was then handed a start in Tottenham’s Carabao Cup quarter-final clash against Stoke City last week in what appeared to be a great opportunity for him to prove his worth.
Instead, it all went wrong for the 24-year-old at the start of the second half when he gave the ball away by trying a needless flick, with the home side then quickly getting the ball forward and scoring their equaliser.
Alli was taken off not long after the goal and although Spurs went on to win the game 3-1, Mourinho called out the midfielder in his post-match press conference, claiming that he created ‘problems’ for the team.
Crooks believes that the England international has become the Spurs boss’ punching bag and urged him to ‘get away’ from the Portuguese coach.
The former Tottenham striker wrote in his BBC Sport column: “I said only a few weeks ago that Jose Mourinho was up to his old tricks again. He can’t help himself. This time he’s using Dele Alli in order to shine the media torch on himself.
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“After Tottenham’s dismal performance against Leicester – losing 2-0 at home in the league – Spurs went on to beat Stoke and reach the Carabao Cup semi-final. Instead of being content with simply congratulating his players, Mourinho goes out of his way to publicly humiliate Alli.
“Mourinho has made a habit of treating big names with contempt. He did it with Joe Cole when he was at Chelsea, Iker Casillas at Real Madrid and Paul Pogba at Manchester United, just to name a few. He even tried it with Marcus Rashford which I thought was outrageous and I said so on a number of occasions in my team of the week. So, Alli is in good company.
“Nevertheless, there is a solution to all of this for the former MK Dons player and that is to get out – leave.
“Alli is barely 25 and has enough time, and most definitely the ability, to recover from these difficult times at Spurs. However, what is essential is Alli must put a stop to this public onslaught and not allow himself to be used as Mourinho’s media punchbag. There is no doubt the former England international had lost his way but anyone who saw the player’s reaction when he was substituted at Stoke after 66 minutes could see how much it meant to him – so why couldn’t Mourinho?
“Meanwhile, the rumours persist that Alli could be on his way to Paris St-Germain. Well, in light of Thomas Tuchel’s departure, and the prospect of former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino taking over, I’ll be more than a little surprised if Alli isn’t his first signing. What is vital is Alli has to get away from Mourinho and do it now.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I would be very surprised if Alli is still at Spurs by the end of January. It seems as if the midfielder might have played his last game for Tottenham already. I fully expect him to be reunited with Pochettino at PSG in January.
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