After struggling with the trauma of being sexually abused as a child, Everton England midfielder Dele Alli said in an interview on Thursday that he had recently been released from rehab for a drug addiction. sleeping tablets.
Former England football hopeful, now 27, Dele Alli told Gary Neville on ‘The Overlap’ podcast how he ended up dealing drugs at 8 before he was adopted by a new family at age 12.
“At 6 years old, I was touched by a friend of my mother, who often came to the house. My mother was an alcoholic, says Alli. Then I was sent to Africa (to his father) to learn discipline, then they sent me back to England. At 7 I started smoking, at 8 I started selling drugs. »
“I was told by an older person that they wouldn’t arrest a kid on a bike, so I was pedaling with my soccer ball on me, and underneath I was hiding the drugs, I was 8 years old,” he said. 2017 England vice-champion and 2019 Champions League finalist with Tottenham.
English international (37 caps), key element of the England team that reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, Alli then fell out of favor with Spurs before trying to bounce back to Everton and then being loaned at Besiktas last season.
“At 12 I was adopted into an amazing family, I couldn’t have asked for better people to care for me,” he continued.
Alli, who has chosen to speak out hoping he can help other victims, also warned of the dangers of addiction to sleeping pills in football, where players are often prescribed tablets before and after games.
“I developed an addiction to sleeping pills and that’s probably a problem I’m not the only one with, I think it’s more prevalent than people believe in football,” he said. said, explaining that he had gone through a six-week rehab.
“Going to rehab is certainly scary, but I never could have imagined how much I would grow out of it and it would help me mentally,” he said.
“Everyone at Everton respects and applauds Dele’s courage,” the club wrote in a statement, while explaining that no further interviews regarding his recovery will be given to preserve his privacy.
Proud of @dele_official for speaking out and sharing his experience to try and help others. ?? https://t.co/bLOnPdtIt7
His former Tottenham team-mate and England captain Harry Kane also praised his friend’s courage on Twitter: “Proud of @dele_official for speaking up and sharing his experience to try and help others. »
