Houllier was instrumental to France’s World Cup and European Championship successes having been the brains behind their state-of-the-art training base at Clairefontaine in the 1990s.
Now, five years into the life of St George’s Park, he feels England are finally getting ready to build on the success of lifting the Under 20 World Cup and win major honours again.
Provided, that is, a star name emerges to lift them above their rivals. Alli, he believes, could be that player.
“To me, St George’s Park is a great achievement and you will see the benefit of that in five or ten years’ time,” said Frenchman Houllier. “We opened Clairefontaine in 1988 – we won the World Cup in 1998.
“But to win something you need to have a good team with an outstanding player. France had Zidane when he was playing. We haven’t won since he stopped.
“Portugal, who with all due respect, are a good-to-average side that work hard, is well-organised and has a good coach… and have Cristiano Ronaldo. That makes a difference.
“For France, Dimitri Payet was not exceptional enough last summer. Maybe in future we will have Antoine Griezmann.
“Look at the teams that win. Argentina with Diego Maradona. Portugal with Ronaldo. France with Zidane… you need a player like that.
“Even the Champions League final, Juventus and Real Madrid. Who won? The team that had Ronaldo. It is a collective sport where the individual makes the difference.
“You need to have a top, top outstanding player and Alli can be that for England. He is still young, but he is something special.
“England are on the right track. They are developing proper coaches and proper players at some point it will pay off.
“But it will only pay off if they find that bright spark who makes it all happen.”
