Wednesday 26 April 2017 18:52, UK
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino can be "calm" - he does not want to sign Dele Alli this summer.
Pochettino reacted to comments from Xavi - Guardiola's former midfielder at Barcelona - this week in which he stated Alli was just the sort of player Guardiola would like to sign for City.
Alli has had another outstanding season for Spurs, scoring 20 goals in all competitions, and Guardiola has praised the 21-year-old.
But, speaking exclusively to Sky Sports ahead of the Manchester derby live on Sky Sports 1HD on Thursday, he said: "Mauricio Pochettino has to stay calm. Dele Alli is going to be his player next season, I am pretty sure of that.
"We don't want Dele Alli. He is a fantastic player. He is such good news for English football. He is a fighter, attacking the box he is one of the most fantastic players I've seen in my life.
"But Manchester City doesn't want Dele Alli."
Pochettino joked that Xavi was stirring up talk about Alli and Guardiola because they are former Catalonian rivals, while Pochettino managed Espanyol and Xavi was a star at Barca.
"He's 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," said Pochettino.
"He tried to destroy our focus to win because he hates me because he's Barcelona - player, fans, you know. I know him [Xavi] very well, I played against him a lot and when I was a manager [at Espanyol]."
