Mourinho hints at Dele Alli return

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has hinted that Dele Alli is likely to be on bench for Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Everton.

The out of favour England attacker returned to training following a tendon issue and is line for his first minutes since Spurs’ victory against Marine last month.

Alli has played only once in the Premier League this season but he stayed in North London last month despite reported interest from PSG and his former manager Mauricio Pochettino.

“Dele Alli trained with the team and trained well,” current Tottenham boss Mourinho said of the 24-year-old’s recovery. “Long time away, couple of weeks of no training with the team while recovering.

“Can he help us? I believe he can in terms of having Dele on the bench to come on for a few minutes to try and help the team. Is that possible? I have to speak with him but I believe he can.”

Mourinho held clear the air talks with Alli when the transfer window closed but he said that conversation has little bearing on whether he’ll play.

“Nothing changed. He is not injured, he can train with the team. He went through a process of not training, training with the sports science people, and then jumped to the team work, which he did on Monday for the first time.

“What maybe changed is speculation around him because in this moment everybody knows he is a Tottenham player, that he stays here and doesn’t go to any place. Probably the end of speculation will be the end of questions.

“He can train, he can try to help the team because this is what we want and need. We need players to help the team and hopefully he can do that.

“In a normal situation he wouldn’t even be considered for tomorrow, but with the injuries we have and so many matches maybe we have to accelerate his process.

“Maybe we can but I want him to be fully on board and to agree. It depends on his feelings. If he could be on the bench tomorrow and come on for 10-15 minutes to help the team, that would be good for us.”