Dele Alli: I signed Spurs deal because we are on a journey to something great

Dele Alli said of his Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino: ‘You don’t want to get on his bad side.’Photograph: Rob Newell/CameraSport via Getty Images

Dele Alli has said he followed Harry Kane and others in committing his long-term future to Tottenham because they are on a journey together to “achieve something great”.

The midfielder signed a new six-year contract this week, joining Kane, Érik Lamela, Son Heung-min and Davinson Sánchez in agreeing fresh deals over recent months.

“Some of the players who have also signed, I think you can see that we all want to be a part of this journey together,” Alli said. “We all want to achieve something great. As young players as well, we want to keep improving and this is a great place to do that. The feeling around the place is positive.”

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Tottenham secured a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Arsenal by defeating West Ham on Wednesday. Although they are five points off the top of the Premier League and facing likely Champions League elimination, Alli is confident trophies will come and said: “It will be that bit more special winning it here together, with the amount of work we’ve done.”

The 22-year-old is not, though, obsessed by that. “It’s not all about winning trophies for me yet at my age,” he said. “I want to keep improving and trying to become the best player I can.”

Another notable new contract signed since last season was that of Mauricio Pochettino. Alli said the manager was “a massive part” of his decision to stay.

“You want to have a good relationship with the manager and we all feel like we’ve got that here,” he said. “We all love the way we work. The style of play, we all want to be a part of it. He’s done a lot for me.”

Asked to expand on day-to-day dealings Pochettino Alli said: “He’s a very nice guy but at the same time he can’t be too nice. Everyone has got a lot of respect for him. You don’t want to get on his bad side.”

Pochettino has been open about his disappointment over the delayin moving into the new White Hart Lane. Alli, who said the redevelopment played no more than “a little part” in his contract commitment, has no truck with the negativity.

“This will all be forgotten with the switchover,” he said. “Hopefully the fans will love it. We’re all looking forward to it; we’re all excited. We’re in a good place, we feel … We haven’t hit the form we know we can. But that says a lot about us, that we have had the start we’ve had and still know we can play a lot better.”