Alli joined Spurs from his hometown club ahead of the 2015-16 season, with few expecting him to have such a huge impact on the first-team in his debut Premier League campaign.
Spurs 11/2 to beat Real Madrid
But he quickly put such reservations to bed and went on to score 10 goals in the league, a record he then went on to obliterate last term, adding an extra eight.
Since leaving MK Dons, Alli has become a key figure for both Spurs and England, but he has had to overcome some doubts along the way, not least from Pochettino.
Speaking in a Mail on Sunday serialisation of the new book Brave New World, about Pochettino, Alli said: “When I signed for Spurs in 2015, I came to have a look around the training ground, but I think he [Pochettino] was in Spain.
“I didn’t see him till I came back for pre-season. It was really hard and I didn’t know what he thought of me.
“The first proper one-on-one was with Jesus [Perez, Pochettino’s assistant].
“They were speaking in Spanish and then Jesus said to me: ‘He didn’t like you…’ or similar.
“The boss was staring me in the eye to see how I reacted. I was speechless! He [Perez] paused for like a second, and he said ‘…but now he loves you.’”
