Tottenham: Mourinho delivers team news for Burnley clash
Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on Carlos Vinicius, but claims he has a ‘Harry Kane sized problem’ standing between him and more regular minutes. The Brazilian was signed on loan from Benfica during the summer window to provide cover for the Spurs skipper.
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho admits 'special' Spurs star has Harry Kane 'problem' (Image: GETTY)
Asked what Vinicius needs to do to get more minutes, the Spurs boss said: “He has one problem, and the problem is Harry Kane.
“It’s as simple as that. You need to be a special guy, you need to be a special heart, a special mentality, a special feeling in relation to what you mean for the team, what the team expects from you.
“To be a striker in the same team as Harry Kane then you need to be a special guy, always motivated, always happy to have one minute, five minutes or start the game.
“He is giving us what we want. In the Premier League he is going to play because we have so many matches that Kane cannot play every match.”
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Vinicius has managed nine goals from limited opportunities this season (Image: GETTY)
He added: “First season in a country is never easy, especially a South American player that doesn't speak the language, that is the first time he leaves a certain comfort zone.
“To come to England for Carlos was not easy at all but he is giving us what we wanted.”
Another player that has found minutes difficult to come by in the Premier League is Dele Alli. The England international has managed a paltry 113 minutes in the league and hasn’t started a top-flight game since the first weekend of the season.
But after admitting that his condition is improving with every passing week, Mourinho has hinted that Alli could be in line for a recall against Burnley on Sunday.
“I'm happy with him. Difficult period. Sometimes small injuries in accumulation are more difficult than a big injury where after a few weeks or months you are back.
Mourinho has hinted Alli is edging closer to a Premier League start (Image: GETTY)
“Small injuries are mentally not good, players getting disappointed, lack of motivation, frustration. He went through all that.
“He came back. We had good conversations, training well, playing minutes or part of matches. Not yet a 90 minute match but he went through periods and basically now 75 or 80 minutes.
“His condition is also improving. His feelings after matches always is better. For example in the first match in Budapest, he played 60 minutes or something like that and he super, super tired after the game.
“This time he played more and two days later, and basically second day of recovery and he's good.
“We need him, we need them all and today in a long, long time, we didn't have every player on the pitch and today we did.”