Mauricio Pochettino has delivered a withering rebuke to Xavi after his claim that Manchester City want to sign Dele Alli, saying the Barcelona legend is his 'enemy' who wants to 'destroy' Tottenham's end to the season.

The Spaniard said on Tuesday he speaks regularly to City manager Pep Guardiola and believes his former team-mate and coach is planning a world-record bid for Alli.

That has been completely rejected by Tottenham manager Pochettino, who instead claimed the comments were motivated by the desire to unsettle him due to the city rivalry between Barcelona and Espanyol.

And the 45 year old says he has not trusted Xavi since he collapsed under a challenge from Raul Baena to win a penalty that Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted to give Barcelona a 1-0 victory over Espanyol at the Nou Camp in December 2009. Pochettino was the Espanyol manager at the time and he claimed to have joked about the decision with Thierry Henry - who was also playing - on Monday, shortly before Xavi’s claims about Alli came to light.

“He’s in a period when he loves to talk, he’s in Doha [playing for Al Sadd] and listen, he was Barcelona player, he’s my enemy,” said Pochettino of Xavi ahead of his side’s trip to Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. “He tried to destroy our focus to win because he hates me because he’s Barcelona - player, fans, you know.