Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has said that Dele Alli's introduction off the bench was the difference in his side's 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon.
Alli was brought on to spark a lacklustre Tottenham into life with the match still goalless on the hour mark, and soon had a hand in the opening goal when he teed up Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, whose cross was glanced in by Ben Davies.
Bruce joked that he tried to sign Alli following his influential cameo, and admitted that he would rather have seen the England international stay on the bench.
"I asked Dele Alli if he would come and play for us. He said 'someday Steve I'd love to' but I think £80m might be too much for us," he told reporters.
"He certainly changed it for them. He has that quality that really top players have. I wished he had sat on his arse, we might have been better off."
Alli has scored seven goals in his last four starts for Spurs.
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