Jose Mourinho admits it is 'amazing' to have Dele Alli back in the squad
By Tom Gott
Tottenham Hotspur boss has confessed that it is 'amazing' to see Dele Alli firing on all cylinders again after a tricky first half of the season.
After being linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, Dele has spent much of the campaign out in the cold. He has just six Premier League appearances to his name, all of which combine for a total of 113 minutes, and has instead been forced to settle for minutes in the Europa League.
What a goal! To even try this bicycle kick takes confidence... ?
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 24, 2021
Take a bow, Dele! ? pic.twitter.com/AWJbibdxR1
Dele stole the show in Thursday's emphatic 4-1 win over Wolfsberger, bagging two assists and opening the scoring with an outstanding overhead kick, prompting Mourinho to confess his delight at having the midfielder back in the squad.
"The goal I don't need to speak, because everyone watched it and I believe that all around the world people are going to watch it," said Mourinho (via BBC Sport).
"But for me the globality of the performance is what matters. He played very well in every aspect of the game.
"Of course he's not fresh, of course you can feel that his performance like in the first leg from minute 55 to 60 is going always to go down, which is normal due to the circumstances - injured, not training for a long time.
"But in this moment when we are going to play every three days, ten matches in March, to have Dele back at this level, is amazing."
Dele wasnt the only player for whom Mourinho was full of praise. 16-year-old Dane Scarlett came off the bench to make his third senior appearance for the club, and the boss told BT Sport that Spurs fans can expect to see a whole lot more of the teenager next season.
“He is a diamond, a kid with incredible potential,” Mourinho began. “He has worked many times with the first team and that gives him a different personality. He is still 16, 17 soon and I believe next season he will be a first-team squad player because he has a lot of talent.
“He is going to be a fantastic player and I hope everything around him goes well. He is a striker, a number nine, I have been playing him from the sides similar to Marcus Rashford and he is very clever.
“There is not one player here that I say I am not happy with, the performances were good. Are they all going to start on Sunday [against Burnley]? No, but we are playing Thursday, Sunday, Thursday.”