Dele Alli wants to rediscover his goalscoring touch - and has set himself a secret target for the new season.
The Tottenham playmaker, 23, struck just five times in the Premier League last year and acknowledged that he needs to improve that statistic this time around.
“I’m not really one for setting targets for goals and assists but I want to bring them back into my game, so of course I’ve set myself a little target,” Alli said, without disclosing what the tally is.
The former MK Dons man has been in Germany, where Spurs saw off hosts Bayern Munich on penalties to lift the Audi Cup on Wednesday. And he will be hoping that will not be the last time they take home some silverware this season having lost the Champions League final to Liverpool in June.
“Since we’ve been together we’ve shown improvement every year in different areas,” he explained. “Last year the Champions League was a great achievement for us. We were disappointed we didn’t go all the way and win it but we are going to have to channel that hurt we felt in that game and keep improving.”
Tottenham have impressed in pre-season but Alli believes more work needs to be done.
“We are not the finished article,” he said. “We know that. We’ve got things to improve on. But we think we are definitely heading in the right direction. It’s just another season, we have to show improvement and we are not far off it.”
Spurs’ lack of activity in the transfer market has been well-publicised. They have been linked with a number of players including Real Betis midfielder Giovani Lo Celso. Should new arrivals come through the door, Alli is ready for the battle.
“As top players we want to be challenging ourselves,” he said. “We don’t want to stay still or think this is as good as we are going to get. We want to keep pushing on and having top competition.”
“There are top players here and the players that are not in the starting eleven are training hard and working hard every day. Everyone is fighting to keep their places. So of course we want top players in the team.”
