Love-In Feeling: Tottenham Boss Mauricio Pochettino Calls Mousa Dembele ‘Genius And One Of The Unbelievable Talents In History Of Football’

Chris Wright

23rd, February 2018

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After being hampered by intermittent injuries in the past, Mousa Dembele has quietly put a string of impressive performances together for Tottenham this season.

Many outside of the Spurs camp are beginning to twig just why Dembele is held in such high regard at the club, with impeccable back-to-back outings against Arsenal and Juventus thrusting the Belgian midfielder to the forefront.

However, as per usual, it hasn’t taken long for things to get silly, with Mauricio Pochettino adding his voice to the outgushing of Dembeleppreciation by declaring the 30-year-old to be firmly on par with the all-time greats of the game.

As quoted by journalist Ben Pearce, Poch was positively phosphorescent with praise after being asked about Dembele’s importance to his team during his Friday press conference:

I told you he was a genius, and for me he’s this type of player. I’ve told you, I put him next to Ronaldinho, Maradona, Okocha – players I’ve been lucky enough to play with.

For me hes one of the unbelievable talents in the history of football.

Which is a little OTT, possibly? Dembele can be a ball-retaining colossus when he’s on song, certainly, but he’s nowhere near that upper echelon, surely to goodness?

That said, we’re getting serious ‘Tugay’ vibes from this fresh wave of Dembele love-in and that’s no bad thing. He’s definitely one of those “Ask-anybody-who’s-ever-played-alongside-him-and-they’ll-tell-you” type players.

A proper player’s player – if you’ll excuse us using the word ‘player’ a couple more times.

Still, it’s nice to see a talented player footballer both A) maintaining his fitness, and B) getting credit for his exemplary work.