Dele Alli: James Milner backs England team-mate to get ‘10 times better’ under Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino

The 19-year-old has improved thanks to the trust of his club manager, as have many players before him

Tottenham's Dele Alli in action for England (Getty Images)

James Milner has backed England team-mate Dele Alli to get “10 times better” under the management of Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur. Alli has burst into the England team, usurping Milner and others on his way into Roy Hodgson’s side, but the experienced Liverpool man said there was far more to come from 19-year-old Alli.

“As good as he is at this moment he can be 10 times better, and he will,” Milner said. “He has a great attitude, and will keep working hard and keep improving. We need to take that spotlight off him and let him develop and improve. We have seen how good he is and he will only get better I’m sure.”

“The manager [Roy Hodgson] knows when to play him and is not overusing him,” Milner said. “I think it is down to him as well, we know he has got a great head on his shoulders and he is a calm guy.”


 Milner (above) also backed Everton and England defender John Stones to overcome his recent critics (Getty Images)
 (Getty)

Alli has improved thanks to the trust of Pochettino, as have many Spurs and Southampton players before him. Milner has not played for Pochettino but recognised how important the Argentinean was to developing English youngsters.

“To make the step up, and the impact [Alli] has had this year is brilliant, he obviously had a good manager there,” Milner said. “He has a great bunch around him, and that will help, the players he has around him at Spurs ,and the big bulk of players here. It will help to have that familiarity around him.”

“The manager seems brilliant there and he is going to be one of the biggest influences on Alli,” Milner said. “You have seen how many players he has brought through. Adam Lallana had him before and speaks very highly of him as well. I think he is the one big guy who can have the most influence and he is getting the best out of him.”

Milner also backed John Stones to overcome his recent critics, having slipped on the way to Holland’s equaliser on Tuesday. “He has played so well that he has put himself on that pedestal,” Milner said. “When you are playing well you are up there to be shot down, like we talked about Dele, and people being built up. He is a top-class player, it was a great ball for the first goal, starting with him playing out from the back.”

“You want to see players like that, everyone wants to see us playing out from the back, he is brilliant on the ball, again very young and will only get better and keep learning and another lad with a great attitude as well.”