Dele Alli. A player who loves the limelight, and a player who isn't shy of controversy.

The attacking midfielder was once thought of as one of the best attacking threats in the country.

He was scoring goals for fun, playing with a cheeky element of flair and brushing opponents aside with a phenomenal amount of arrogance and confidence.

That, however, feels like a long time ago.

You have to go back to before the 2018 World Cup to really remember a time when Dele managed to put a strong consistent run of form together over a long period.

During the 2016/17 season, he scored 18 Premier League goals and also helped himself to seven assists in the process.

In the build-up to the World Cup in Russia, he then scored nine and assisted ten. The numbers had dwindled ever so slightly but this was a man who should have become an England mainstay.

Dele Alli playing for Spurs in 2018

Instead, his performance levels have dropped considerably and two years later, he now can't get in the Three Lions or Spurs squad. 

Jose Mourinho has never been afraid to drop a player if they don't perform and Alli, it seems, is the latest in a long list of individuals that have felt the wrath of the Portuguese. 

When Mourinho first walked through the door, it looked as though Dele had rediscovered himself.

After a period where he was benched under Mauricio Pochettino, the new Spurs boss brought him back into the side. The reward? Three assists and four goals in seven Premier League outings.

Dele Alli and Jose Mourinho

Unfortunately, that revival was shortlived. He scored just two goals in the league after the New Year period and so far this season, Dele has started only twice in all competitions.

That precedes a transfer window where he was linked with a rather surprising exit to PSG. For all the world it looked as though it would be curtains for his career in north London.

That being said, Alli has remained a Spurs player, if you can even call him that judging by his lack of football.

The 24-year-old started against Royal Antwerp in Tottenham's 1-0 defeat last week but was rather embarrassingly hauled off at half-time.

He didn't play last weekend and he didn't even make it off the bench against Ludogrets on Thursday. 

Dele Alli

It tells a sorry tale for Dele, a player who has now been handed another meaty blow by one of his teammates this week.

What happened? Well, Giovani Lo Celso starred in the number 10 role. 

He was another player to have been withdrawn against Antwerp at half-time a week ago, but unlike Alli, Mourinho gave the Argentine another chance.

Lo Celso duly obliged and was easily one of Tottenham's best players in Bulgaria. As the Lilywhites won 3-1, it was the £31.5m-rated midfielder who stole the show.

He scored his first goal of the season and managed to provide three key passes in the process. The 24-year-old won all three of his ground duels and was also fouled on two occasions. To put things simply, Ludogorets couldn't live with him.

Of course, performing well against such opposition is hardly a litmus for the Premier League, but it's encouraging for Tottenham nonetheless.

Giovani Lo Celso celebrates scoring against Ludogorets

Unfortunately, it's not good news for Dele, a player that Lo Celso is currently ahead of in the pecking order.

Despite that, the latter will have to work on his fitness to really become a Mourinho favourite. Speaking after the match, the Tottenham manager stated:

"I feel that when he plays he's not the Gio that we know, not the Gio that we know that he can be an amazing player. But with the ball, of course, great criteria and he knows what he's doing of course, and understands the way we want to play. But we need more intensity to be fitter, to be more intense and to be stronger in the transitions." 

The call for Lo Celso to be fitter, funnily enough, bears great similarity to Alli. 

Mourinho famously called the former MK Dons midfielder lazy in Spurs' All or Nothing documentary but of the two players, it's the Argentine who's getting the most opportunities.

The better he plays, the more bleak Dele's future with Tottenham looks.