Abused as a six-year-old: football star Dele Alli gave a shocking interview on English TV

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Dele Alli (27) was once regarded as a super talent in English football – by the age of 20 he was a star at Tottenham Hotspur and in the 2018 World Cup squad.

But then came the deep fall. Preferring to party rather than focus on sports, he struggled with injuries and fell out of favor with the Spurs. In 2022, he was given to Everton for free and loaned to Besiktas after six months. The contract there was dissolved after a short time.

Now Alli makes you look deep. And reveals to the English football legend Gary Neville (48) things that have been a burden to him for almost his entire life.

scared to talk about it

“Are you OK?” With this simple question, Neville starts the conversation as part of his “Sky Sports” format “The Overlap”. “Yeah, for the first time in a long time,” Alli replies. And admits that he is afraid to talk about it.

“On the outside I won the daily battle, on the inside I kept losing the battle,” he says. The whole thing plunged him into an addiction to alcohol and pills. He has now overcome this, he recently spent a month and a half in a clinic. He tried to combat traumatic childhood experiences.

“I was abused by a friend of my alcoholic mother when I was six,” Alli says in tears. Neville is shocked too, with tears in his eyes. His father later sent him to Africa to learn discipline. “I started smoking when I was seven and selling drugs when I was eight,” Alli continues. A child on a bicycle would never be checked by the police, the dealers told him. At the age of eleven, he was threatened with death on a bridge by a hostile gang.

Thoughts of Retiring at 24

The alleged rescue followed when Alli was twelve years old. He was “adopted by a wonderful family”. But he couldn’t open up to her either. “I lost myself for a few years. I didn’t want to accept help, I wanted to do everything myself.” He put so much pressure on himself that one morning at the age of 24 he stood in front of the mirror and wondered if he could stop doing what he loves so much. He thought about quitting football.

Those thoughts are now far away. He has let go of things that weighed him down. So Alli cut off contact with his birth parents. And he also has new plans for his career. “I want to become even better than then, as a player and as a person,” he emphasizes. “I’m just looking ahead and excited to see what the future holds for me.” (bir)

Source : Blick