Paul Merson is calling on Tottenham playmaker Dele Alli to return to the "Dele Alli of old" after believing he has lost confidence.
The Spurs star has been sparingly used by boss Mauricio Pochettino this season and has only featured in three of his side's opening 10 Premier League games.
The England international endured a campaign to forget last season, with a thigh injury and several hamstring injuries seeing him miss 23 games of his side’s campaign.
And Merson has followed on from Graeme Souness in urging the former MK Dons man to rediscover his love for the game.
“I've said it for a long time, Dele Alli has to get back to the old Dele Alli and he was one of the best young attacking midfield prospects in Europe,” the former Arsenal and Aston Villa told Sky Sports.
“He got in the box, made runs and he could score a goal. He was probably the nearest thing to Frank Lampard at one stage.
"If you're a midfielder, no one likes chasing another midfielder when they haven't got the ball and they get in the box and score a goal.
“That's what he's stopped doing. He might be thinking that when Moussa Sissoko has got the ball, is it worth me running? And that's a problem.
“I like Harry Winks but he's not a 40-yard passer of the ball. The only one who is going to put it on a sixpence for you in the Tottenham team is Christian Eriksen and if you look back on Alli's goals over the last few years, some of his goals have been from 40-yard passes and I think he's lost confidence in the players on the ball.
“It's horrible because he starts thinking 'I'm not going to run here because I'm not going to be found' so you don't run and you're the one who gets the blame and I think that's the problem he's got at the moment.”
