Dele Alli has revealed Mauricio Pochettino was the key factor behind him signing a new six-year contract with Tottenham this week.
According to reports, Alli is now the second highest earner at Spurs behind Harry Kane, raking in around £150,000 per week.
Kane and Pochettino both signed new long-term deals over the summer and now Alli has followed suit.
The 22-year-old, who made his first start after returning from an injury against West Ham in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night – and provided two assists – has been one of Tottenham’s standout performers under Pochettino.
And Alli has said the Argentinian is the main reason he chose to commit his future to the club.
“He’s a massive part of wanting to be at this club,” Alli told the London Evening Standard.
“The fans are amazing, the chairman, everyone, the whole club is amazing. But as players, you work with the gaffer, you want to have a good relationship with the manager and we all feel like we’ve got that here.
“The fans are amazing, the chairman, everyone, the whole club is amazing. But as players, you work with the gaffer, you want to have a good relationship with the manager and we all feel like we’ve got that here.
“We all love the way we work and the style of play. We all want to be a part of it. He’s done a lot for me and hopefully he can keep helping me to improve.
“He’s a very nice guy but at the same time, he can’t be too nice. Everyone has got a lot of respect for him. You don’t want to get on his bad side.
“The new stadium played a little part but not a massive part [in my decision to sign a new deal]. The stadium and the training ground are great but you can have all that and still not improve as a player.
“As a young professional, I had to think about what is best for my career and where I can improve. It’s not all about winning trophies for me yet at my age. I want to keep improving and trying to become the best player I can be. I’m at a great place to do that.
“Some of the players have also signed — I think you can see that we all want to be a part of this journey together. We all want to achieve something great. As young players as well, we want to keep improving and this is a great place to do that. The feeling around the place is positive.”
Alli played just over an hour of Wednesday’s win at West Ham and should be in the starting line-up again when Spurs travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this weekend.
The former MK Dons star has scored just twice in all competitions so far this season – he’ll be hoping to add to that tally sooner rather than later.
