Is Manchester United Outcast Key to Tottenham Star’s Future Loan?

There have been a lot of questions swirling around the internet and elsewhere about the future of Dele Alli at Tottenham Hotspur. Some believe it is players like Christian Eriksen or Marcel Sabitzer who will determine whether or not Spurs move Dele on to PSG or anywhere. However, there are good reasons to believe the future of Dele Alli’s availability to go to Paris hinges not on making a deal with a foreign team, but making a deal with Manchester United.

What Tottenham and Mourinho Need

While, Tottenham Hotspur leadership would like Dele Alli to man-up and compete daily for his spot in the team that may or may not happen. With the idea that Dele really wants to leave, there must be two things that happen first, in order for José Mourinho to sanction Dele to leave, even for just six months.

First, Tottenham cannot be caught short with cover. We saw last year what happened when the injuries piled up for the club and the result was Gedson Fernandes joining at the deadline. What clearly looks like a panic cover move would not even be available later in the season if cover were not added first. Tottenham have yet to play as many games as they had at this point last season, so anything can still happen from an injury and cover perspective. Mourinho and Levy cannot leave the team short.

Second, Tottenham Hotspur are currently short on numbers when it comes to homegrown players, this is especially true in the Europa League. As it stands right now, Tottenham are going to have to remove a player from the Group Stages squad to create room for Joe Rodon. While Rodon counts as local for FA purposes, Wales does not for UEFA leaving Spurs short an opening.

What this means is that the idea of Eriksen or Sabitzer coming into the team in January just does not make sense given the lack of room that already exists for foreign players in a squad that needs defense more than offense. Ultimately, this means there is only one solution for Dele Alli being green-lighted a transfer.

Only Another English Midfielder Can Replace Dele Alli for Tottenham

No matter who fans want or who Fabrizio Romano might speculate about, the bottom line is only another Englishman can be brought in at this point for Dele Alli to leave. Ideally one under 21, but that is a different story. So Tottenham must get an Englishman and they need that Englishman to be a midfielder to provide the same cover Dele does.

Of course Jack Grealish or James Maddison would be ideal as they are both English and both the kind of attacking midfielders Tottenham would love to have. The reality is neither Grealish nor Maddison are either available nor really affordable at this point given the markets and the strains on Spurs budget.

Instead of shooting for the moon with Grealish or Maddison, Tottenham should instead look to someone familiar to both Dele Alli and more importantly José Mourinho in Jesse Lingard of Manchester United. Whereas people feel Dele Alli is on the outs at Tottenham, Lingard is in Siberia at Manchester United.

Mourinho got the best out of Lingard

Back when José Mourinho was in charge of Manchester United, Lingard had his best seasons as a professional. So good was Lingard, he went to Russia with Dele and England and often split time with the Spurs star. Lingard even scored his second international goal in the 3-0 win over Panama during England’s cup run.

In that 2017-18 season under Mourinho, Lingard had his best output scoring 10 goals and assisting six in all competitions across about 2400 minutes. However, since Mourinho left in December of 2018, things have gone downhill for Lingard. Lingard went from playing 33 League games in 17-18, to 27 in 18-19, and had just 22 appearances in League last season.

This season Lingard has not once appeared in a Premier League match and has less than 200 minutes in all competitions for the Red Devils. If people think Dele needs a new start, they should take a look at Lingard too. Jesse is now 28 so is not likely a long term replacement for Dele, but if there has to be a move now, Lingard makes sense.

While neither deal seems all that likely, if Dele is to move, Spurs need English cover first. In Jesse Lingard you get an English player who can play across any of the attacking midfield positions who knows José Mourinho and more importantly José Mourinho already knows. We at HotspurHQ hope Dele can fight his way back into things, if not, this may be one solution that fits all parties involved.