Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho revealed Dele Alli missed last weekend’s win at Sheffield United through injury.
The 24-year-old, linked with a move away from the club this month after falling out of favour with Mourinho, was not in the 20-man squad at Bramall Lane as he had a small problem with his tendon.
Alli remains a doubt for Monday’s FA Cup fourth-round clash at Wycombe.
“The reason he did not play, or was not selected for Sheffield, is everything in relation to the injury that he has,” Mourinho said.
“It’s not an injury that will keep him out for weeks and weeks like Gio, but is an injury that doesn’t allow him to train fully with the team and like in the last couple of days, no chance for him even to train. So that’s the situation for now.”
While Mourinho has remained coy on whether Alli will leave this month, amid reports of an imminent reunion with Mauricio Pochettino at Paris St Germain, he was more forthcoming on a possible exit for Gedson Fernandes.
The Portugal Under-21 international is 12 months into an 18-month loan from Benfica but he has barely played this season, making just two appearances and being left out of the Europa League squad.
Reports in Italy suggest Torino are interested in taking him to Serie A, though Mourinho could not shed any light on that.
He did, however, concede that Spurs are open to negotiating an end to his deal at the club.
“We don’t speak with other clubs, because the player is not ours, we speak with Benfica,” Mourinho said. “Since the moment we felt that we were not giving to Gedson the possibility to play many matches and being out of the Europa League list we felt we didn’t have the right to keep him.
“If he stays, great, he is another option for us and every time he plays he does well for us so it would never be a problem to have him.
“We never feel the right to keep a player who is not our player and is not playing as much as they would like.
“If there is anything between us and Benfica, yes, Benfica knows that we are open to collaborate with a friendly club like they are but if there is any other club involved I cannot confirm because honestly I don’t know.”
Spurs have again been linked with Southampton striker Danny Ings, but Mourinho says he does not need to add to his attacking line.
He said he has the best striker in the world in Harry Kane, has capable back-up in the shape of Carlos Vinicius and Son Heung-min can deputise as a third striker.
“Two strikers, we are not a team that needs a third striker because the third striker is Sonny,” Mourinho added.
“We don’t need more than two. We have the best. We are happy with Carlos, Carlos is not our player. He is a Benfica player but he is one that we are helping to develop and he is helping us when he is asked for. We are happy with the situation.
“Ings I refuse totally to say any word about him because he is a Southampton player and I respect that.”
Along with Alli, Matt Doherty and Serge Aurier are doubts while Giovani Lo Celso has been ruled out.
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