Dele Alli was once a promising wonderkid who was tipped to cruise to the summit of the game and rub shoulders with the biggest names in the game.
However, the reverse has been the case. The last three years of his career as a professional footballer has been the most difficult years for the 27-year-old.
Alli nearly faded into oblivion at the final days of his career at Tottenham. If something has remained of the striker is the prying eyes of the media on his various scandals after he dropped like a meteor in 2020.
Luckily enough, Everton manager Sean Dyche is ready to give Alli a chance in what could be a last lap race for him to ressurect his career or bow out of the scene.
The fall of Dele Alli
No one has been able to pinpoint the exact moment Dele Alli lost his charm and drifted off the pecking order but it has been settled Alli dropped like the meteor when Jose Mourinho became Tottenham manager in 2020.
In his interview which is highlighted below, Dele Alli has revealed he clashed with Jose Mourinho after the latter called him lazy in front of the camera.
He, however, admitted Jose Mourinho later apologized but sadly the media did not pay attention to the apology but magnified Mourinho’s negative comment against him.
For the first time in his Tottenham career, Dele Alli failed to score even a single goal in 2020/21 season when Jose Mourinho took over as Tottenham manager.
The English striker managed only 15 Premier League appearances for the club, frequently axed from the starting lineup and cutting a frustrated figure on Tottenham bench.
He left the club the next season joining Everton while hoping to revive his career. At Goodison Park, Alli struggled to breath life back into his career. In his two seasons with the club, he managed only 13 appearances, 11 in his first season and 2 in his second season and could not find the back of the net.
After what could be termed as a ‘disastrous campaign’ with the Toffees, Dele Alli was loaned to Turkish side, Besiktas. At Besiktas, it was a similar disturbing spell.
Dele Alli off-field scandals
While struggle to find his balance at Besiktas, his infamous off-field scandals further casted a dark shadow on his chances of returning to top level performance. First was the hippy crack scandal before a raunchy bedroom pose with women.
At a point, Besiktas considered terminating his contract but were held back by the clause of Alli’s contract. His loan spell with the Turkish club expired last season.
Dele Alli ready for a new start with Everton
Everton escaped relegation from on a knife edge last season with Sean Dyche becoming the hero. Futballnews understands Sean Dyche is ready to give Dele Alli a chance but has asked him to “get fit.”
Also, new Chelsea manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has promised to get in touch with Alli and help him ressurect his career.
Dele Alli breaks silence on his downfall, addiction, and drug
In an exclusive interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap, Dele Alli has finally spoken out on the genesis of his fall.
He made stunning revelations about his childhood, his faceoff with his biological parents, engaging in drugs, and consideration of retirement at 24 and other sad episodes of his journey as a teenager and footballer.
Alli said he struggled with addiction to sleeping pills and has to travel to USA for rehabilitation for six weeks.
He also revealed he wanted to retire at 24 after Jose Mourinho left him on the bench calling him lazy just a day after he recovered from injury.
Alli also attributed his downfall to the departure of Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham manager. According to him, he connected with Mauricio Pochettino at a personal and deep level and it was difficult for him to adjust and relate with his successor Jose Mourinho the same way.
‘So yeah, I think (Pochettino) helped a lot in that period of my career, which is why it was tough for me when he left. Because, you know, then you [get] new managers, and it was hard for me to let anyone in at that point and to be open. And I felt like everything was just so fake.’
On his childhood, the fallen football star said he struggled with alcoholism and he some times peddled drugs, suffered abuse by an elderly person who hung him on a bridge, and also cut off from his biological parents, Kehinde Alli from Nigeria and Dennise from England for betraying him.
‘(My childhood is) something I haven’t really spoken about that much, to be honest. I mean, I think there were a few incidents that could give you kind of a brief understanding,’ Alli continued.
‘So, at six, I was molested by my mum’s friend, who was at the house a lot. My mum was an alcoholic, and that happened at six. I was sent to Africa to learn discipline, and then I was sent back.
‘At seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs. An older person told me that they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I’d have the drugs, that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man.’
On where the relationship went sour with his biological parents, Kehinde Alli and Denise, Alli said his parents went to the press and betrayed him by claiming his adopted parents were trying to take undue advantage of him.
‘I don’t speak to my mum anymore,’ Alli added. ‘So, when I was 18, my biological mum and dad went to the newspaper and like, started accusing the family that adopted me of doing all this stuff when they didn’t know what they had, like they were the ones that used to make me go and see my mum. I never wanted to go.
‘They would always tell me, ‘She’s your mum, like you should have a relationship with her’. And I think that spoke volumes, like what they were doing. They were just doing it generally because they’re amazing people. So yeah.
‘And then my mum – my blood mum and dad – went to the press saying that these people are taking advantage of me. They want to go through my contracts. And I hadn’t spoken to him for years. And I knew that wasn’t my mum’s decision because I know she didn’t really leave Milton Keynes. Like there was no way she’d done that,’ he said.
Despite his traumatic childhood, Dele Alli was able to eke out a great career due to the influence of his adopted parents, Alan and Sally Hickford.
Posting a screenshot of the tell-all interview with Gary Neville, the Premier League stars, England national team, and other top Premier League and England national team players have send in messages of solidarity with Dele Alli. Marcus Rashford, Declan Rice, and others shared red heart emojis in a show of support for the player.
Alli is currently recovering from his injury and will hope to return to top level with Everton as the Toffees brace up for 2023/24 season.
Watch the Full Gary Neville’s Interview with Dele Alli below Video
