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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Marc Mayo

Newcastle transfer won’t be of interest to Dele Alli as Tottenham outcast wants a bigger club, says Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov has told Newcastle not to hold out much hope of signing Dele Alli, as the Tottenham outcast will want to join a bigger club this month.

The midfielder is available to leave North London after struggling to impress multiple managers, however Spurs may end up having to keep him past Monday’s deadline while failing to bring in any of their own top targets so far.

Paris Saint-Germain were previously linked with Dele, but the French club are now chasing Tanguy Ndombele. This month has seen Newcastle and Everton reportedly make moves for the player but ex-Spurs man Berbatov reckons he will be holding out for better.

The Bulgarian told Betfair: “I'm not surprised to see Dele Alli linked with a move away from Tottenham, it's been a downhill for him in recent seasons.

“It started with Jose Mourinho and now it's continued with Antonio Conte. So there must be reasons if two of the best coaches in the world are not playing you.

“If he wants to be part of the national team then he needs to play. Sometimes it's difficult to change the environment when you spend so many years in one club. But that is the risk you need to take sometimes and get out of your comfort zone and find some other places to go and show what you can do, otherwise you sit there and do nothing.

“I have seen that Brighton, Burnley, Everton and Newcastle have been linked with him. At 25, with all due respect, I'm not sure he's going to join any of those clubs.

“I think he values himself highly based on what he has done with Spurs. I think he would like to go to a team that is challenging for trophies. He's waiting for a big offer from a big club.”

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