Tottenham 'decide against' letting Dele Alli leave in January

Tottenham have decided against loaning out or selling Dele Alli in January, and expect him to stay and fight for his place in the second half of the season.

Dele has seemingly lost the faith of Jose Mourinho entirely, and has managed less than half an hour of Premier League action since the opening day of the season, when he was substituted at half-time in the defeat to Everton.

90min learned in December that the midfielder was keen on an exit, as he seeks to play regular football with a view to working his way back into the England squad for this summer's European Championship. It was believed he didn't see a way back into the Spurs squad under Mourinho, who prefers Tanguy Ndombele and Giovani Lo Celso in advanced midfield roles.

At the time it was understood that both Mourinho and Daniel Levy were open to an exit, with Paris Saint-Germain the leading contender to sign him.

But while the French champions' appointment of former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino last week only intensified talk of a January move, Sky Sports now say the north London club have 'decided against' letting him go, and see his immediate future at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It's not clear if Dele's stance has changed but Spurs accept the reality of a hectic second half of the season and believe he may be required to play some part. That doesn't exactly spell good news for their pursuit of Marcel Sabitzer, who Mourinho is thought to view as a direct replacement for Dele.

The 24-year-old hasn't appeared for Spurs since the 3-1 victory over Stoke City in the Carabao Cup, after which Mourinho was highly critical of his role in the Potters' equaliser.

"Yes [I was angry with Alli]," he said after the match. "For me a player that plays in that position is a player that has to link and create and not to create problems for his own team. In that situation, an objective counter-attack would probably end with a goal, and it ended with a counter-attack behind our defenders."

The Portuguese continued: "We were unbalanced because when you are in possession you have full-backs out wide and another midfielder in a different line and they caught us in a counter-attack and they transformed the result of the game that was totally in our hands, so yes I am upset."

He has been on the bench in both league matches since, and it remains to be seen if he will be given the chance to regain his manager's trust.