Search icon

Sport

26th Apr 2017

Xavi denies ever giving quotes about Dele Alli’s future to The Sun

Paul Moore

Well, this is awkward.

During his most recent press conference, Tottenham Hotspur coach Mauricio Pochettino jokingly referred to Xavi as his “enemy”.

This remark stems from an alleged interview that Barcelona icon Xavi had given to The Sun in which he stated Pep Guardiola’s interest in signing Dele Alli for Manchester City.

“I speak with Pep, and I know he thinks it is important to sign English players. I am sure in the summer he will look also across Europe for players to improve the squad, but also I expect him to look in the Premier League as well,” Xavi is purported  to have said.

Given Pochettino’s history with Barcelona’s local rivals Espanyol, the Argentinian replied to these quotes by saying that the World Cup winner is “in a period when he loves to talk, he’s in Doha [playing for Al Sadd] and listen, he was Barcelona player, he’s my enemy.”

Well, it appears that these quotes are fabricated. Xavi clarified the issue after speaking with the Spanish newspaper SPORT and stating that he”never” spoke about with any English newspaper.

In recent weeks, The Sun have been banned by Liverpool Football Club, over their reporting of the Hillsborough disaster, and Everton for a deplorable column about Ross Barkley.