LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has offered no guarantees that Dele Alli will still be at Tottenham Hotspur next season, while urging his players to ignore transfer speculation and focus on beating Chelsea to the Premier League title.
Newly crowned PFA Young Player of the Year Alli has been linked with a summer move to Manchester City, and Barcelona legend Xavi has suggested that his former manager Pep Guardiola wants to bring the 21-year-old to the Etihad Stadium.
Kyle Walker is another player reportedly admired by City and their rivals Manchester United, while Danny Rose, Hugo Lloris and Pochettino himself have all been linked with moves away from Tottenham since their 4-2 FA Cup semifinal defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.
Pochettino was asked at a news conference if Alli would still be a Tottenham player next season but said: "I cannot guarantee anything in life.
"The most important thing is to enjoy the present. I am so sad [about the death of the club's under-23 coach Ugo Ehiogu] -- don't think about the future. In the future, we'll take the best decision for the club.
"After three years you can see how the team is improving every year and all our decisions so far have been good. Trust in the club that we will take the best decision for the club to achieve [our goals], improve next season again. That's the most important thing.
"We care a lot about the club and now we must focus on the present, try to help the team and the club to be there if Chelsea drop points. And it will be special if in the last season at White Hart Lane we win the Premier League.
"We have three to four weeks [until the summer]. We must give our best, big efforts for all of us, for the players to try to focus. Don't think about the holidays, don't think about the rumours, don't think about what will happen next season. I want the last three to four weeks to be a big effort from everyone to achieve [something]. Then we can congratulate everyone and try next season."
Walker was left out of the starting XI against Chelsea at Wembley -- the second time this season that he has been rested for an important cup match after Kieran Trippier also played ahead of him in the Champions League defeat in Monaco -- and sources told ESPN FC that the right-back was left dismayed by Pochettino's decision.
The England international reportedly held talks with Pochettino about his future this week.
Asked about Walker's situation, the Spurs manager said: "It's like many rumours. Kyle, Dele, [Christian] Eriksen, Alli, Lloris, Pochettino -- many rumours about many things.
"I never speak about rumours. It's important to be honest with the club and try to give our best. After the last game, we can spend the next 24 hours speaking about the future. Now, the club and the fans deserve to focus and try to catch Chelsea. If not, then finish second, third or fourth."
Pochettino's Tottenham trail Premier League leaders Chelsea by four points with six matches of the season remaining and they face a tough trip to Crystal Palace on Wednesday, with Chelsea hosting Southampton on Tuesday.
Tottenham will still be without Rose, who has resumed training with the first team after nearly three months out with a knee problem, but Ben Davies could return to the lineup.
Like Walker, Davies was a surprise admission from the team on Saturday, when Pochettino used forward Son Heung-Min as a wing-back, only for the South Korea international to concede a costly penalty for Chelsea's second goal.
"Ben is OK -- he played a lot of games in three months and sometimes you need to rest some players, but the team played well," Pochettino said. "Son played in a position we tried to be more offensive in, tried to stop [Chelsea] in different ways -- not waiting for [Victor] Moses, pushing him to play in the back five.
"He made a very good job and when you lose, of course, you need to find and try to improve. The decision was to be more offensive, play in a way to win the game always. Ben is OK tomorrow, he needed to rest a little bit but maybe he will play tomorrow."