Mauricio Pochettino has backed Dele Alli to contend with the hype around him, which was increased further on Thursday when Sir Alex Ferguson said the 19-year-old was the best young midfielder he had seen since Paul Gascoigne.
This time last year Alli was preparing with MK Dons for a League One trip to Swindon Town but he is now a central figure for Tottenham Hotspur in their push for a first league title since 1961 and he also stands to be a focal point for England at the European Championship.
Alli starred in England’s victory over the world champions, Germany, in Berlin last Saturday, when he was described by the former Germany captain Lothar Matthäus as the best player on the pitch and the plaudits have continued in the days since.
“He is probably the best young midfielder I have seen in many years, probably going back as far as Gascoigne,” Ferguson, the former Manchester United manager, said in an interview with Sky.
James Milner expressed a hope the hype around Alli would cool but, in the next breath, the Liverpool midfielder said his England team-mate “can be 10 times better and he will be”.
Pochettino knows a thing or two about the development of young players and 11 of England’s past 19 debutants have worked under him at some stage, either at Tottenham or his previous club, Southampton.
The manager made the point that Alli’s life had changed on a grand scale since he completed his £5m transfer from MK Dons to Tottenham last year and said the teenager’s maturity had surprised him. But he expressed his full confidence in Alli’s ability to handle the pressure of being in the spotlight.
“I am not worried about the hype,” Pochettino said before Tottenham’s Premier League fixture at Liverpool on Saturday. “You can see during the whole season how he has managed the pressure. He is very calm and very mature. He has managed the pressure and the popularity of being a senior player [at Tottenham] and playing for the national team.
“There is always a question mark when they are young. You can assess how is his left foot, how is his right foot, how is his performance on the pitch and in training. But how a young player can be affected by the big things that happen in football, to be a senior player, a player for the national team – this is always a question mark.
“You are always aware of it and you are behind him to try to support him. But I think it has surprised us how he’s shown maturity. He’s very calm and quiet after all that has happened to him and how his life has changed this season.”
Alli has scored seven goals for Tottenham this season, plus one for England in the November win over France, and he has established an excellent rapport with his club-mate Harry Kane, which it is hoped can continue to be productive for England at the Euros. It was put to Pochettino that, at times like these, it was remarkable to think how far Alli had come in such a short time.
“Always in football, in my experience, this can happen,” Pochettino said. “We don’t set any limits on any players. We try to provide them with the tools to improve and then, it’s up to them.
“In this way, Dele has not surprised us because his quality and condition were unbelievable and are unbelievable, and the potential is massive. How quickly they develop is always up to the player. Some players show maturity like him and develop quicker. It doesn’t mean Dele has more potential than other young players but, maybe, another one needs more time to develop his quality on the pitch.”
Alli and Tottenham’s other England internationals have returned with a spring in their step but Pochettino’s objective is to keep them grounded. In Alli’s case, the club have done everything they can to support him and manage his soaring profile and that has included, for example, saying no to the mountain of media requests for him.
“We always need to be aware and look after him,” Pochettino said. “We have a lot of control about that. He can go down if you are not aware but we look after him in a good way. Now he is fresh, at a good level and he has a good mentality. He is mature enough. We have no worries about his future.”
