Mauricio Pochettino compares Dele Alli to Brazilian legend Ronaldinho

Tottenham's Dele Alli celebrates scoring a goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at White Hart Lane stadium in London, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Mauricio Pochettino has somewhat surprisingly compared Tottenham's Dele Alli to former Barcelona hero Ronaldinho in terms of their attitude and charisma.

Alli burst onto the scene for Spurs under Pochettino after making a move from MK Dons in 2015, and particularly impressed in his first few seasons in north London, scoring 22 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions in the 2016-17 campaign.

Recently he has struggled to build on that early promise, however, and has regularly been left out of the squad by Jose Mourinho amid a poor run of form.

Pochettino played with former Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldinho while he was at PSG, and revealed he could see similarities between the two aforementioned players.

When asked about Alli by Sky Sports, Pochettino said: "Another player with similar charisma is Ronaldinho when we played at Paris Saint-Germain.

"At the start Dele Alli had this type of charisma, and people love Dele.

Former Brazil and Barcelona midfielder Ronaldinho. [Internet]

"But what an amazing player Ronaldinho was, both in terms of the talent and charisma, like Diego Maradona. That is what makes a player really special.

"When Dele came to Tottenham and he was scoring goals kids loved him. They feel the charisma and the energy, and Dele had it."

Alli recently started just his third game of the season when he was included in the line-up to take on Antwerp in the Europa League, but was substituted at half-time with Spurs 1-0 down.

He has since been left out of the teams which beat Burnley and Brighton in the Premier League, and it is looking increasingly unlikely he has a future at Spurs.

Pochettino, meanwhile, has opened the door to a return to management after declaring himself ready to take up his first job since being sacked by Spurs last November.

He has been linked with the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid, and it remains to be seen which club eventually make a move for the 48-year-old.