Alan Hutton has admitted that he sympathises with Dele Alli, suggesting that the Tottenham midfielder would find it difficult to deal with not knowing whether or not he is going to be involved from one game to the next.
Alli came off the bench in the dying moments of Tottenham’s 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace on Sunday, with Mourinho’s men chasing an equaliser.
That was the midfielder’s first appearance in the Premier League since Spurs’ 6-1 win at Old Trafford at the start of October and he also made a late cameo in last night’s loss at Liverpool.
Most of the England international’s minutes this season have come in the Europa League but he was an unused substitute in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Antwerp last Thursday.
Reports have indicated that Alli wants to leave Tottenham when the transfer window opens next month, with Paris Saint-Germain reportedly interested in signing him on loan until the end of the season.
Hutton admitted that the 24-year-old should leave the North London club if he has any hopes of making the England squad for the Euros in the summer.
When asked if Mourinho’s decision to bring him on Sunday was a positive development, the former Tottenham defender told Football Insider: “I hope so, I mean it’s a difficult one, isn’t it?
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“He’s in the squad and then he doesn’t play in the European game, where you would think he would get his minutes because of the number of changes they are making, and then he’s in the Premier League matchday squad and he gets five minutes.
“I’m just thinking, as a player, it must just kind of wreck your head a bit, you don’t know if you’re going to be in squads from week to week so it must be difficult, it must be like a rollercoaster for him at the moment, he doesn’t really know whether he’s coming or going.
“Should he leave, should he stay? He’s not really getting an awful lot of game time and he knows that he has to play for the summer if he wants to be anywhere near the England squad but, I don’t know, it’s just a strange one at the moment.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Alli only got on the bench on Sunday because Gareth Bale was out with an illness and Mourinho only threw him on since we were chasing the game and we did not have too many other attacking options on the bench. It is clear that the midfielder is not in Jose’s plans and I fully expect him to leave the club in January.
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