Dele Alli talks life at Spurs: ‘Fake’ management, relationship with Harry Kane
Dele Alli has opened up on his Tottenham career, delving into his relationships with Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Harry Kane, and more while speaking with Gary Neville.
The England international burst onto the scene for Tottenham, having signed from MK Dons for £5 million, in the 2015-16 season under Pochettino. Dele spoke of their relationship during The Overlap, praising not just Poch but his coaching staff for their welcoming approach:
“I couldn’t have asked for a better manager at the time, and his team not just him, Jesus [Perez], Miguel [D’Agostino], and Toni [Jimenez], they are amazing people and they’re so understanding,” he said “It wasn’t like a footballer and manager relationship, it was deeper than that I felt…He was just so understanding of the decisions I was making, like he cared about me as a person before the footballer, which is what I needed at that time, and I think that’s important for young players. I think when you go somewhere it can be quite scary and I never had that fear, you know, trying to prove myself in that sense because I felt like he was giving me the platform to express myself the best I could and be comfortable.”
He continued in the interview to describe life after Pochettino. The Argentine had been fired by Tottenham in November 2019, despite leading the team to the Champions League final just months prior. Dele discussed his issues with the succeeding managers, starting with Jose Mourinho, describing interactions with them as “fake.”
“It was hard for me to let anyone in at that point and to be open, I felt like everything was just so fake. When managers would speak to me, I just felt like the conversations weren’t real because there’d always be something,” he said. “It’s hard to explain, it’s something like, it was probably more me in my own head and my own ego. I weren’t open to let anyone in and I didn’t feel like any of them wanted to know me on a personal level which was then tough for me to fully commit and give my everything for them. Which obviously had a negative impact on me in the long run.”
Tottenham went under the microscope during the 2019-20 season in Amazon Prime’s All or Nothing documentary. During this, Mourinho was seen labeling Alli as lazy. The midfielder revealed that the Portuguese manager had actually apologized for the comment just a week later, but that wasn’t seen as part of the documentary:
“So that lazy comment, people love to bring that up,” he said. “That interview, obviously it was on Amazon he called me lazy. A week later he apologized to me for calling me lazy because he’d seen me actually train and play, but that wasn’t in the documentary and no one spoke up about that.”
He also opened up on the tight friendships he had forged whilst with Tottenham. He earmarked England Captain and talisman striker Harry Kane among them, as well as Eric Dier, Heung-Min Son, and left-back Ben Davies. He noted that they would be brutally honest, providing instrumental guidance when he needed it:
“The likes of Eric Dier, I think he’s a great friend and you realize who is your real friends, people that don’t just say yes. They always hold a special place in my heart so like people like Eric, Harry [Kane], Sonny [Heung-Min Son], Ben [Davies], there’s a lot of players that didn’t approve of what I was doing,” he said. “If they knew about it they weren’t afraid to tell me, especially Harry and Eric they were brutally honest.”
Watch the full interview here:
Where is Dele Alli with regards to football?
Dele Alli joined Everton from Tottenham on an initial free transfer during the January window in 2022. The deal would have seen Everton spend £40 million if certain performance benchmarks were met and he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, running until the end of this coming season. He only made 13 appearances since signing with Everton, recording no goal contributions in that time.
Alli moved on loan to Turkish side Besiktas during the 2022-23 season. Despite scoring his first goal in over a year on his second appearance for the club, the England international has not played since late February. In April, he returned to Everton to assess the current injury he is dealing with.
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