Dele Alli has hailed former manager Mauricio Pochettino for his influence on him during his time at Tottenham.
Alli has fallen out of favour under Jose Mourinho at Spurs and saw a move to reunite with Pochettino at PSG fall through last month.
The midfielder has made just five appearances in the Premier League this season, with the majority of his game time coming in cup competitions.
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And the 24-year-old has lavished praise on Pochettino, who was something of a father figure to him.
As reported by The Sun, Alli said: “I was very lucky to have a manager like Pochettino – he was an unbelievable guy and very experienced.
“He would pull me in if I was doing dumb stuff and speak with me.
“Not like a dad – but that sort of vibe.”
Mourinho moves to challenge Alli to fight for his future last month, claiming “unhappy” players fall into two categories.
“In every dressing room are unhappy players,” Mourinho said. “For sure. If any one of us, of my tribe, tells you that in his dressing room are only happy players,
“I don’t think it’s true. Or somebody is so so lucky to have a miracle in his hands.
“Then you can have [an] unhappy professional and the unhappy professional is the one that is unhappy but feels that his duty is to work, work, work and work.
“And there is the unhappy player that believes that it’s not his job to fight and to work every minute for the squad and for the club.”
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