The Athletic’s Tottenham Hotspur correspondent Charlie Eccleshare claims that Dele Alli would be the player for Spurs to sell if they wanted to boost their summer transfer budget if they fail to qualify for the Champions League, per The View From The Lane podcast (March 10th, 28:50).

What’s the word?

Spurs are involved in a real scrap to qualify for Europe and are currently eighth in the Premier League, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

Manchester City’s prospective ban from next season’s competition means that the fifth-placed team could conceivably qualify for the Champions League but they are also four points off Manchester United, who beat their local rivals at Old Trafford on Sunday.

A true test for any Spurs fan: Can you match these iconic images with the right results?

Reports have suggested that Spurs’ transfer budget will be just £50m if they do not qualify for the Champions League, meaning they may have to rely on player sales to raise funds.

And Eccleshare believes Alli, who has 62 goals in 218 games for the north London outfit, would bring in the kind of money that Spurs would require.

He said: “I think you would be looking at someone like Dele Alli if you’re looking at getting that kind of money in, and it’s just whether any of the big boys and you know the biggest European heavyweights would want him.”

Spot on

This could well be a decent idea.

The attacking midfielder has been off the boil this season, despite scoring eight goals in the Premier League.

They have come in bursts, though, with the 37-cap England international netting just two in his last 10 games and weighing in with one assist in that time.

As a result, one has to suggest that Alli’s sale would boost the coffers considerably and not impact the balance of the team all too dramatically – he is valued at £72m by Transfermarkt, does not play regularly as a central midfielder and is not the key attacking midfielder at the club following Giovani Lo Celso’s arrival.

The question, as Eccleshare says, is whether a club of the size of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Manchester City would be willing to stump up the money to take him away from north London.

If they were, Spurs should seriously consider it.

Meanwhile, Spurs fans have reacted to a link with a Premier League midfielder!