Tottenham Hotspur breakthrough star Dele Alli has signed a new five-year contract tying him to White Hart Lane until 2021, the Premier League club announced yesterday.
Alli, 19, joined Spurs in a £5 million ($7.2 million, 6.7 million euros) move from third-tier Milton Keynes Dons last year and has made a stunning impact, scoring five goals in 18 Premier League appearances this season. The versatile central midfielder has also been capped by England and scored his first international goal in November’s 2-0 friendly win over France at Wembley.
“I’m delighted. The club’s been really great to me since I’ve come here,” Alli said. “We’ve got a great, young team and I see us going forward, so I’m happy to be here.”
Alli signed for Tottenham from his home-town club MK Dons in January 2015 and was loaned back to the League One side for the remainder of last season before linking up with Spurs during the close season. He made his debut against Manchester United on the season’s opening day and has made 26 appearances in all competitions. Initially deployed alongside Eric Dier as a holding midfielder, Alli has been used in a number 10 role by manager Mauricio Pochettino in recent weeks. “It’s very good news for us and for him. After the last six months, Dele deserves to improve his salary and his contract,” Pochettino told a press conference. “He has achieved the level of his team-mates and now he is international and plays regularly in the first team. He deserves all he takes now.”
Alli is expected to be included in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for this year’s European Championship in France and may yet begin the tournament as a member of the starting XI.

Caulker loaned to Liverpool by QPR
Liverpool have moved to address their defensive injury problems by signing centre-back Steven Caulker on loan from Queens Park Rangers, the Premier League club announced yesterday.
Caulker, 24 and capped once by England, could make his debut in today’s home game against league leaders Arsenal. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp moved to bring Caulker in after hamstring injuries to Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren left him short in central defence. “We looked for Premier League experience because in this short time, you need that experience,” Klopp said. “We looked for a good header (of the ball) because that’s what we need. We want to play good pressing, we want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls. If they play long balls, you need people in the last line who can help you with headers and we’ve found it with Steven Caulker.
“He was not in the best situation in Southampton, didn’t play too much, but this is January and we want to have the best solution for us and we are absolutely convinced that Steven is the best solution for us.”
While Skrtel and Lovren remain sidelined, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho have recovered from cramp and knee problems respectively, so Caulker may be on the bench against Arsenal. Formerly with Tottenham, Caulker had been on loan at Southampton and appeared in the south coast club’s crushing 6-1 defeat at Liverpool’s hands in last month’s League Cup quarter-finals.

Man City captain Kompany facing longer lay-off
Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany could be sidelined with a calf injury until “the last part of the season”, manager Manuel Pellegrini revealed. Kompany, 29, has made just 12 appearances this season due to a succession of calf problems.
The Belgium centre-back’s latest injury, sustained during City’s 4-1 win over Sunderland on December 26, was initially expected to keep him out of action for four weeks, but Pellegrini has revised that prognosis.
“Vincent maybe not so soon,” Pellegrini told a press conference when asked when his skipper was likely to return. “But for the last part of the season he could be fit.”
Asked if he could provide an update on Kompany’s situation, he said: “Not in this moment. It is difficult because Vincent is doing a lot of different things to try to understand and to find the reasons for so many injuries. At this moment it is difficult to tell you an update about that.”
Kompany’s importance to City is borne out starkly by statistics. They have conceded only goal in the Premier League while he has been on the field and have kept just one clean sheet in the 11 games he has missed.
City have also lost Kompany’s fellow central defender Eliaquim Mangala to a hamstring injury, but Pellegrini said that he has no plans to bring in cover during the January transfer window.
“We have (Martin) Demichelis, we have (Nicolas) Otamendi, we have Bacary Sagna, who can play in a central defensive position,” said the Chilean yesterday.
City are three points below league leaders Arsenal in third place ahead of home game with Everton.