TalkSPORT journalist Alex Crook has slammed Daniel Levy for the way he has handled the Dele Alli situation at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 24-year-old, who has found minutes incredibly limited so far this season under Jose Mourinho and has been the subject of plenty of speculation claiming that he could be on the move this transfer window. However, according to a report in The Athletic, it has been claimed that the reason he wasn’t allowed to leave was that Levy is too much of a fan of his to sanction his departure.
So with his future set to remain in North London, speaking on the TalkSPORT Daily Podcast, Crook feels like it’s now up to Levy to try and convince Mourinho to salvage Alli’s career:
He said: “I don’t understand why Daniel Levy, as Jose Mourinho’s direct line manager, has allowed him to cast off a player who at his best, is probably a £70m footballer – because he’s not that old, Dele Alli. And just to cast him aside and say ‘No, I’m not going to use him, he doesn’t fit into what I want to do.’
“That’s a dereliction of duty on Daniel Levy’s part. He should be saying to Jose, ‘You have this player. Find a way to fit him into your team and to get him to play.’ I think it’s shameful, the way Dele Ali has been treated by Jose Mourinho.”
TIF Thoughts on Alex Crook’s comments about Dele Alli and Daniel Levy…
Crook may be in danger of starting a ruckus here. Levy, who is above Mourinho in the Spurs hierarchy, is probably in the position to make some hints about the team in the grand scheme of things, like an overall transfer strategy.
But at the end of the day, the starting eleven and the matchday squad should always fall at the feet of the man in the dugout. And given the ego that Mourinho has been noted for throughout his career, it may be unlikely to suggest we will see him being in a position to surrender any sort of authority on that matter any time soon, so there could be trouble if the idea was ever formally proposed.