Described as a ‘genius’ and put in the same bracket as Ronaldinho by his manager Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham’s Mousa Dembélé is enjoying a lot of praise these days.
Unable to help his team through to the next round of the Champions League on Wednesday night, the Belgium international still enjoyed a good game against Juventus, and is easily one of the first names on the Spurs team sheet on a weekly basis.
For one of his former managers, this sudden increase in reputation isn’t surprising, as he was already showing the same qualities when he was at Fulham prior to his move to White Hart Lane.
Speaking to Volkskrant, relayed by Walfoot, Martin Jol said: “Sometimes, I thought about giving him a rest, because he relies a lot on the physical side of his game, but I started sweating at the idea of starting a game without him.
“Dembélé was my best player. I wanted to take away the pressure of scoring. In England, a striker and a number 10 have to score, but Dembélé was always asked to play further back.”
For the currently unemployed manager, there is no one better at getting past their man in midfield: “Maybe Pogba or Vidal, but Mousa is better.”
Despite being out of the Champions League, there’s still a lot to play for this season, with Tottenham currently fourth in the league, four points behind second placed Manchester United.
The last thing they’ll want is to have to go through a qualifier for next season’s edition of the elite European competition.
