Jermaine Jenas believes Jose Mourinho is ready to move Dele Alli out of Tottenham

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Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jermaine Jenas believes that Jose Mourinho might be in the process of phasing out Dele Alli amid the England international’s recent struggles for form. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Sport, the ex-Spurs star was suggesting that the demise of Alli, after such a bright start under Mourinho’s guidance, is a tell-tale sign of how quickly things have turned sour at Tottenham under the current management. 

“That’s the key one that I look at in terms of the way that it’s gone. If you think about when he arrived, Jose, and the smiles and the ‘have I been watching Dele’s brother’ and all of a sudden Dele’s scoring goals and it’s all looking good. 

“And then, we haven’t seen Dele. We’ve not seen that Dele now for weeks, months obviously.

“I get the feeling that he (Mourinho) will slowly edge him out from what I’m seeing. That’s an indication to things going a little bit sour.”

Undoubtedly it looked as though Mourinho’s arrival was about to see a return to the real Dele Alli for Tottenham fans. 

He immediately suggested that Alli’s brother had been playing in recent months, so poor was the Tottenham star’s form and contrasting to him at his swashbuckling best. 

It appeared to work, with Alli scoring five goals in Mourinho’s first eight games in charge. 

Speaking to Sky Sports about his uptick in form, Mourinho stated that Alli was playing in a ‘comfortable’ position to showcase his ‘amazing creativity’. 

However, an injury to Harry Kane saw Alli being used as a striker and the form drifted fast. He has scored just twice since that early Mourinho revival and is now on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. 

Time will tell if Jenas is right and Mourinho no longer sees Alli as a major part of his plans going forward, but Tottenham fans will just be hoping they can see the best of Alli again soon.