Tottenham manager Mauricio Pocehttino has made the outrageous claim that midfielder Dele Alli has achieved more at his age than footballing icons Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard did in the same stages of their career.
Spurs’ 21-year-old is renowned as one of the best young talents in world football and has managed to recapture his best form in recent weeks.
The England international has one goal and four assists in his last two games, which has highlighted his importance to the north London club.
Pochettino has defended the pressure that the attacking midfielder is under from the media and responded by saying he has achieved a great deal at his early stage of his career.
Alli has scored 64 senior goals so far during his spells with Spurs and MK Dons, while has also has two PFA young player of the year awards.
However, he is still on the search for his first major honours like the majority of the players in the Spurs squad.
Pochettino has compared Alli to a Champions League winning trio, who all burst on to the scene at a young age.
Current Everton ace Rooney had scored 79 senior goals before his 22nd birthday, with one Premier League medal and one League Cup under his belt by then.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid talisman Ronaldo had netted 43 goals by the same point of his career, with a League Cup and FA Cup to boast before going on to become a serial winner.
Additionally, Lampard broke through the ranks at West Ham as a rising talent and had scored 18 senior goals before his 22nd birthday, with a UEFA Intertoto Cup victory to his name.
“From day one, when he started to play here at Tottenham and achieve all he has achieved, not one other young player of his age – not Cristiano Ronaldo, not Lampard, not Rooney… massive players, great players – he achieved more than all those big names,” Pochettino said, as quoted by Football London.
“The problem is the expectation. We expect from him in every touch, every action unreliable things. Sometimes it’s not possible.”
OPINION
Alli already has immense pressure on his shoulders to deliver every time he steps on the pitch and Pochettino’s comparisons to some footballing greats may not help his cause. The creative playmaker has been criticised for his inconsistent form so far this campaign as he has struggled to impact a large amount of games. However, he still has eight goals and 10 assists to his name in 24 games to show that he is still having a positive effect on games. The main area he is currently lacking is in the trophy cabinet and that is somewhere he should be desperate to solve. He is involved in a Spurs squad that have the quality within them to win silverware, but are perhaps lacking the big-game know-how right now.