Tottenham signing Dele Alli excited by White Hart Lane switch - 'It is the perfect club for me, hopefully'

Alli was signed in January but remained at MK Dons for the current season

Simon Peach
Monday 20 April 2015 08:57 EDT
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Tottenham announce the signing of 18-year-old Dele Alli
Tottenham announce the signing of 18-year-old Dele Alli (Twitter/@SpursOfficial)

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Dele Alli is excited by the prospect of playing under Mauricio Pochettino next season and believes Tottenham are the "perfect" club for him.

This has been a whirlwind season for the 19-year-old, with his exceptional performances for MK Dons earning a £5million move to White Hart Lane in February.

Alli has yet to feature for Spurs having been immediately loaned back to his boyhood club, where he has continued to impress - so much so that on Sunday he was crowned the Football League Player of the Year.

The midfielder was quick to credit MK Dons upon picking up the award and is determined to repay their faith by helping them secure promotion to the Championship.

"MK has got a special place in my heart but obviously I have signed to Tottenham," Alli said.

"Whilst I am at MK, I am just going to be focused on them, right until the end of the season.

"To get promotion would be the perfect ending to a fairytale, really.

"Obviously, being from MK and playing for MK my whole life, to get us promoted would be a dream come true."

The Dons sit third in League One and have three matches to make up the one-point gap Preston hold in the final automatic promotion spot.

Alli has been key to Karl Robinson's side, scoring 16 goals in 41 appearances, but admits it has not always been easy to concentrate as the speculation mounted.

"I am not going to lie and say it hasn't been hard because it has," he said.

"For a few years now there have been rumours of me going places. I've been speaking to my agent to see what it is all about.

"Obviously the last year really it has picked up a bit and there has been a lot more speculation about me going other places.

"In this transfer window, towards the end, it was a bit of a rollercoaster, to be fair.

"When it came that I could come to Tottenham, obviously I had a look and I spoke to my agent. We had to think about the manager and all the pros and cons about it.

"We couldn't think of anything wrong, really, about it - it is the perfect club for me, hopefully. I am just going to do the best I can."

The chance to work with Pochettino is clearly one of the positives for Alli, given the former Argentina international's willingness to give young players a chance.

"That's the big thing for youngsters," he said. "When you go, you don't want a manager that's not going to have any trust in young players.

"I think with him you can see already that he has a lot of faith in youngsters and I think as a young player you need that, just for confidence in yourself.

"You need a manager that believes in you and shows that he believes in you by playing you."

PA

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