Tottenham caretaker Ryan Mason has outlined how winger Dejan Kulusevski must improve.

The attacker was outstanding for Spurs during the second half of last season under coach Antonio Conte.

However, Kulusevski, on-loan from Juventus, has failed to hit those heights this campaign, with his and Son Heung-min's lack of form contributing to Conte's eventual sacking.

Mason commented on the matter, stating in a press conference: “I love Deki as a player. I think he's got so much room to grow and be a top, top player, even though he already is a top, top player.

“At the same time when you play for a club like this I feel it's important that you feel you have to earn the shirt in every moment. Naturally when you play for a club like this there's competition. At the moment, last week, you could see he was on the bench but he came on and helped the team get the result. That's important because you need a full squad. The intensity of the Premier League and the demands are so much that it's bigger than just the 11 players who start the game on the pitch.

“You need people to come on and contribute. We saw that with Eric Dier as well the other day when Clem went off injured. He had to be ready for five minutes and he played an important role. So that's the message to all of our players. We value all of them, they've got an important role to play, albeit for three games at the end of the season, but I think it's an important message going forward."

He added on the player's future: “I'm not sure about that to be perfectly honest. The general feeling is that Deki is a Tottenham player so those conversations, like many other conversations about other players, will come at the end of the season."