As football fans woke up on Thursday morning, they were confronted with a new interview on the overlap conducted by Gary Neville. However, this was not just the ordinary interaction that fans were used to between Neville and current footballers. It highlighted the difficulties of being a professional footballer and, more importantly, the difficulties that people go through that they may not talk about due to fear of being judged by their peers or feeling ostracized.
Dele Alli, a man who has been heavily criticized over the years for his drop-off in performances, bravely came out to talk about the difficulties that he faced in his childhood and teenage years and how they subsequently impacted his performances as he grew older.
The 27-year-old recently went into rehabilitation due to his struggles with his mental health and sleeping pill addiction. On going to rehab, the Everton star said, “I felt like it was time for me. You can’t be told to go there. You have to know and make the decision yourself, or it’s not going to work. I was caught in a bad cycle. I was relying on things that were doing me harm.” Alli said that the mental health issues were a result of a traumatic childhood - being molested at the age of 6, starting smoking at the age of 7, and selling drugs at the age of 8. He was even hung off a bridge by someone from a different housing estate to his at the age of 11. Alli recalled that an “amazing” family then adopted him at the age of 12, which saved him and allowed him to chase his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
Once one of the brightest young footballers in the world, the issues would start to creep up on Dele as he got older. The England International fell into a footballing slump as Pochettino departed Tottenham, an event which Alli said negatively impacted him as his relationship with the Argentinian was deeper than just player and manager.
Alli was a shell of his former self under Jose Mourinho and admitted that he was using sleeping pills much more often as he just wanted to numb the feelings he was experiencing and escape from his mental troubles.
He would even go on to say that at one point - after being dropped by Mourinho - he looked at himself in the mirror and asked himself if he should just retire from the game he loves at only 24.
After falling completely out of favor at Tottenham, Alli was given a lifeline by a struggling Everton, who were fighting relegation at the time. However, he failed to recapture the form that captivated fans up and down the country in previous seasons. He was then sent on loan to Besiktas in Turkey and was still unable to perform to the required standard. Upon his return to Everton, while injured, Alli checked into a rehab facility.
Despite the difficulties faced by Alli, he displayed maturity as he took accountability for his actions, saying that the parties and drinking that he indulged in were coping mechanisms that he used to overcome the mental trauma that he was battling. He stated that while at Tottenham, Eric Dier and Harry Kane would try to help him as much as possible, but Alli would lie to them and not disclose the full extent of his difficulties.
However, he said that now that he has returned from rehab, he feels the fire and passion for football that he felt as a teenager and that he wants to outperform the best version of him that fans know.
Overall, the interview was extremely brave and touching from Alli. Fans and pundits forget that footballers are humans too, and many face extremely difficult situations despite what we may perceive as living luxury lives.
We certainly stand with Dele and would love nothing more than for him to return and show us the talent we all know he possesses and what once almost landed him a move to Real Madrid.
Above all else, it was significant for Alli to come out and conduct this interview and allow others that may be going through similar situations to see that they are not alone and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.