When José Mourinho accused Dele Alli of playing like the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder’s brother during their first meeting, the candid conversation came as a relief to Alli.

Mourinho’s suggestion was that Alli, dropped from Gareth Southgate’s England squad after struggling for form amid recent hamstring problems, had not been playing at his usual high level. Yet this first encounter with his new head coach provided a positive impression immediately.

“To have it honestly said to my face was nice because a lot of people would prefer to say it behind your back,” Alli said. “It was actually the first thing he said to me. It was funny, I thought. But we’ve had a few conversations now. That was one of them. There was a few