PSG awaiting Tottenham decision on Dele Alli transfer
Tottenham Hotspur are weighing up whether to allow out of favour midfielder Dele Alli to leave the club this month, with French champions Paris Saint-Germain keen on doing a deal and said to be expecting a decision from the Premier League club this week.
Once a key starter for both Spurs and England, Dele has played only 74 minutes of Premier League football this season, and hasn’t started a league match since the opening weekend of the season when he was substituted at half-time in a defeat to Everton.
The 24-year-old is looking to leave Spurs during the January transfer window, with the ultimate aim of forcing his way back into the England squad in time for the summer’s European Championship.
90min revealed last month that Dele doesn’t see a way back into the fold at Spurs any time soon and his desire to leave is motivated by the possibility of missing out on a tournament with England.
Monaco registered interest during the summer transfer window, largely thanks to the influence of sporting director Paul Mitchell, who first knew the player as a teenager at MK Dons and later took him to Spurs when he became recruitment director in north London.
PSG have also been keeping an eye on him for several months, but the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as new head coach at Parc des Princes has made a move there a tantalising prospect.
It was of course Pochettino who gave Dele a platform when he first arrived at Spurs in 2015 and helped turn him into one of the best attacking midfielders in the Premier League.
The Daily Mirror writes that Dele is keen to reunite with Pochettino at PSG and the French club want to make it happen. They hope Spurs will have reached a decision in the coming days on whether to allow it, although it is most likely to be a loan if it does go ahead.
90min exclusively reported in December that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has reservations about letting Dele go and is therefore reluctant to sanction a permanent transfer. The player is still young enough to develop and improve, but while Levy has a strong affection for Dele, he does not wish to be seen undermining head coach Jose Mourinho by blocking an exit.
Levy is more comfortable allowing a loan, ensuing Spurs will not cut ties with Dele, but there is a possibility it could be a longer 18-month deal until the end of next season. That would give the player more time to find his feet and kick-start his stalling career than a typical short-term deal until the end of the season, which would see him quickly return to Spurs in under four months.
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