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Dele Alli tipped to make drastic change which could affect Tottenham transfer decision
Tottenham star Dele Alli faces an uncertain future at the club.
Tottenham: Jose Mourinho discusses Dele Alli’s absence
Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli will need to prove his versatility in order to break back into Jose Mourinho's starting line-up, according to Danny Murphy. Mourinho's arrival at Tottenham back in November last year appeared to have a positive affect on Alli.
The England international scored three and provided three assists in Mourinho's first four league games.
He went on to establish himself as one of the first names on the team sheet under Mourinho up until the Premier League restart.
Alli would only feature three times, starting once, in Tottenham's nine games during the restart, although part of that was due to a small injury.
The 24-year-old has no such issue this season, but a disappointing first-half performance against Everton on the opening day of the season saw Alli dropped from the matchday squad altogether for games against Lokomotiv Plovdiv and Southampton.
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The surprise omission from their latest Premier League fixture though coincided with reports suggesting Alli could be sold by Tottenham.
Paris Saint-Germain are said to be interested in signing the midfielder, who signed for Tottenham five years ago.
Alli predominantly plays as an attacking midfielder, but Mourinho has favoured Harry Winks, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso recently.
And Murphy, who spent two seasons at Tottenham, has explained what Alli needs to do in order to force his way back into the matchday squad.
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“I think he's got to change his position,” Murphy said on Match of the Day 2.
“He used to love playing in that No 10 role - but not too many teams in the Premier League now play with a No10.
“[His new position] might be deeper, it might be off the wing and coming inside and getting into those No10 positions from there.
“But playing as a No 10... he's not going to get into that team.”
Mourinho will be without Gareth Bale for several weeks after he completed his season-long loan move from Real Madrid at the weekend.
The Wales international picked up an injury while on international duty, but Mourinho has suggested Bale may be available sooner rather than later.
“The only thing that I know is that the motivation is high, he is so happy to be with a club of his heart, he is so happy to play for us and when a player has this motivation, many, many times you can shorten the period of recovering and shorten the period of getting fit and ready to play and we want to help him," he said.
"So when he is available to train with the team, we are more than happy to have him and to be back to a level that [is] maybe one of the best players in the world.”