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Tottenham: Stadium development update; 20-year-old can be ‘best ever’ say club legends

Scott Challinor
Scott Challinor

Away from all the talk about player contracts, excitement on the pitch, January transfers and top four mbitions, Tottenham fans have more excitement to look forward to as the club presses ahead with its new stadium plans. The new arena now seems to be beginning to take shape, as𝄹 Spurs approach the half-way point in their final season at their traditional White Hart Lane home.

Spurs havꦰe rece🍎ntly released fresh images of the developing building site next to their current home, with just 10 Premier League games left before they move. The new ground is scheduled to be ready for the beginning of the 2018/19 campaign, with Spurs likely to undergo a year long exile at Wembley, which will be their home from home for one season.

The latest step in the new stadium developments has seen 500 precast terracing units brought on to the site, which will hold some of the proposed 61,00 seats🍌.

A second level is now being built on the north-east corner of the new st꧟adium, where the terracing will be extended to, and Tottenham are on track for their aspiring move-in date during the summer of 2018.

Elsewhere, Spurs youngster Dele Alli has received further compliments from Spurs legend Ossie Ardiles𝓰, who describes him according to the as the “new Glenn Hoddle”, and Hoddle himself couldn’t agree more wit🐽h the fellow club legend’s evaluation.

“Dele Alli is a wonderful, wonderful player,” Ardiles says. “He reminds me of Glenn Hoddle quite a lot. In fact, the more I see of him, the more I think that, because he is developing.

“When he arrived, he was kind o💃f just a ‘normal’ midfielder. Now he does things differently. He has an air of arrogance about him that I like. Glenn had it as well, so did Paul Gascoigne. I like that.

“I think he will be up there with them. It is amazing the way h🐲e is improving all the time. He is incredibly young.

“People 💫ask too many questions of him at times. They expect ꦉtoo much of him and are quick to criticise – he did this or that wrong. But he is very, very young and the future is incredibly bright for him. He could be one of the best players in England.”

In a new book published known as Down Memory Lane, Glenn Hoddle 🗹was re꧃cently named Tottenham’s greatest ever player, but he fully expects to be leapfrogged if the survey is carried out again another 20 years down the line.

“If he stays at the club for a long time and produces the goals he can produce then I think there’s a possibility,” he says. “That’s the exciting thing for Tottenham fans and the future of the club.

“We are different players in s💃tyle but he’s got a belief about himself. He’s a young player who came🎉 in and I don’t think he was going to be bullied by anybody.

“I was 17 when I went in and you have to be strong-minded. You have to believe in yourself. I had that belief and Dele Alli has got that as well. Long may that continue for💟 club and country.”

And that is that greatest difference between the two. Hoddle never really fulfilled his potential in an England shirt, scoring♛ three goals in his first five internationals but only five more in another 4𝓰8 for the Three Lions. But he feels the climate is better suited for Alli to thrive for the Three Lions, with Gareth Southgate at the helm.

“I found it hard,” Hoddle admitted. “I wasn’t really given the chances to play back-to-back games when I came in but I did really well at the beginning.

“For creative players the pitches were really🦄 difficult to play on and the rules were different. You had to battle against the tide if you were a creative player.

“We used to get kicked from pillar to post. We played on pitches which were mud and bobbly and it’s wonderful to see what players today play on. If we played on carpets every week, no one would get near Ossie and my𝔉self!”

It has far from been a walk in the park however for Alli this season, and manager Mauricio Pochettino has r⭕eflected that in his personal assessment of the player.

“I am happy with him, but he is still very young,” the Argentinian also tells the Express. “This is his second season in the Premier League. Many things happened last season, sometimes he needs to breathe a little bit. He can’t keep his level up in every game.

“Someti😼mes players have problems, some have illness. They are not at their best because they are human. I am very happy with Dele, only it’s been some periods good and 𒆙not so good.”

Alli’s two goals in four games ahead of Spurs’ trip to Southampton firmly puts the England man in the midst of one of his purple patches, and Hoddle f𓃲eels he can excel given the faith his managers at club and international level show in him.

“The mindset of coaches in this country was way behind when I played,” he said. “It was a battle because I stuck to my principles and played the way I wanted to play”, he said.

“Particularly when you are playing for England you have to feel t♕hat the manager wants you in the team. I never really felt 🤡that for a long time.

“But Dele has an opportunity with an England manager that he has worked with already and to bed down thaꦚt position. That’s good news.”

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