England international Dele Alli scored a brilliant overhead kick against Wolfsberger on Wednesday and Tottenham coach Jose Mourinho has suggested Alli is on the verge of returning to Premier League action for Tottenham.
Alli has not started a top-flight game since the opening weekend of the campaign, having made made only six appearances in the Premier League this season, totalling 114 minutes of action. The England player was linked with a move away from north London in the January transfer window, with Mauricio Pochettino said to be keen to bring him to PSG on loan.
In the end Alli remained, starting in both legs of Tottenham’s Europa League last-32 tie with Wolfsberger, with the 24-year-old lifting the occcasion by scoring a brilliant overhead kick as Spurs beat the Austrian outfit 4-0 on Wednesday night. He also provided two assists to help Mourinho’s side ease into the last 16 of Europe’s secondary competition.
And Alli is now apparently on the brink of returning to the fold in the Premier League, according to his Mourinho.
“We had a difficult period, he had an injury and at the same time talk, talk, talk about staying or leaving,” Mourinho told BT Sport after Tottenham’s 8-1 aggregate victory.
“The market closed, the injury went and he started working with motivation. He is playing very well, I am not saying in this moment we have a starting line-up because of so many matches but it is coming.
“The goal was beautiful but the meaning of the assists and hard work for team means more to me. That work of continuity in the performance is what makes me really happy.”
Currently sitting nine points adrift of the top four, time is fast running out for Tottenham to mount a serious challenge for the Champions League spots.
Mourinho’s men host Burnley on Sunday afternoon, before a trip across London to face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Thursday.
Alli will be hopeful of being included in the starting line-up for at least one of those matches.