Tottenham's Dele Alli has Paul Gascoigne's 'self-belief' and can star for England, says Teddy Sheringham

Tom Doyle30 March 2016

Dele Alli has the self-belief of Tottenham and England legend Paul Gascoigne and can be a star in the years to come, according to Teddy Sheringham.

Alli has become an integral player for Tottenham since signing from MK Dons last summer, making the step up from League One to the Premier League to help lead Spurs' assault on the title.

The 19-year-old midfielder has also broken through for the national team, with his presence at Euro 2016 a near-certainty despite having only made his full England debut last November.

Former Spurs striker Sheringham - who earned 51 England caps and played with Gascoigne at Euro 96 - sees the same talent and confidence in Alli, especially after the youngster's starring role in England's 3-2 win against Germany in Berlin.

The Independent quotes Sheringham as saying: "He's looking a player. I thought he was outstanding in Germany.

England vs Netherlands Player Ratings

1/16

"He had that aura about him in Berlin that Paul Gascoigne had about him at the beginning of his career.

"It was almost if Dele Alli was saying: 'Come and try and get the ball off me. And even if you've got the ball I'll nick it off you then I'm going to wander away from you and you won't get it off me.'

"Gazza used to do that. It had a lovely feel to it; I was very impressed. You can't coach that kind of mentality and self belief - it was in Gazza, and Dele Alli seems to have something similar."

England's preparations for Euro 2016 were dealt a blow on Tuesday as Netherlands earned a 2-1 comeback win at Wembley.

Alli - who came on as a late substitute - said after the defeat: "It is definitely a low after what happened against Germany, which was a great performance.

"I think the team performed well against the Dutch, but we still have a lot to learn."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in