Harry Redknapp has insisted that all the hype surrounding Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli is fully justified.
The 19-year-old was playing League One football just six months ago but is now fast becoming a mainstay in the Lilywhites' starting lineup.
Having also impressed for the England senior side of late, bagging his first international goal in the 2-0 win over France in midweek, Alli has been tipped with a move to European giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Redknapp believes that the summer signing from MK Dons is already worth at least £20m, while also questioning just why it was so easy for his former side to sign the youngster.
"There are people who don't want to hype him up or say it is too early to see his quality at the highest level but anybody who watched that game could see he is a superb talent - tenacious in the tackle, excellent on the ball and all capped off with a top attitude," he told the London Evening Standard.
"It would be interesting to see all the reports on Alli from the so-called good judges who work for the Premier League clubs. Tottenham paid £5m for him in the end, which is nothing. It is an amazing buy. He's worth at least £20m now if not a lot more. And Spurs had a clear run at signing him!
"Why didn't anybody else go for him? I bet if you went and asked these scouts or recruitment heads, they would trot out the line: 'Oh, well I told the manager he was a top player but he didn't want him.' But in truth those reports must have been full of negatives."
Tottenham landed Alli on a five-and-a-half-year deal in January for a fee in the region of £5m, before sending him back to the Dons until the end of the 2014-15 campaign.
Daniel Lewis
