Dele Alli was considering ending his career at just 24 years old. He was also suffering from an addiction to sleeping pills

Dele Alli is not having a very successful part of his career. It’s more like a nightmare. Not so long ago, he was being talked about as the future of English football. In an interview with Gary Neville, he has now opened up about the problems he was experiencing when he was even considering the end of his career.

Dele Alli has had a tough time on the football pitch, which started with the revelation of his interview with Jose Mourinho in the famous documentary series ‘All or Nothing’ about Tottenham Hotspur. After becoming unpopular in north London, he moved to Everton, but even there things didn’t go to plan. He spent last season on loan at Besiktas in Turkey.

Even a stint in Turkey failed to kick-start the old Alli, who as a teenager was destroying Premier League opponents. After having to undergo hip surgery, the 27-year-old is now back in training with Everton.

Career over?

In an interview with Gary Neville, Alli spoke openly about how mental problems have affected him in recent years that he has even considered quitting.

When asked by Neville when he realised something was wrong, he replied: ‘I wokeup one morning. I had to go to training, that was the period when [Mourinho] stopped deploying me. I remember just looking in the mirror. It sounds dramatic, but I was literally looking in the mirror and asking myself if I could quit at 24 and end what I love.”

“I’ve always been against myself in everything. I was winning the battle, smiling, showing that I was happy, but inside I was definitely losing the battle.”

Alli’s other big problem was an addiction to sleeping pills. He even had to go to rehab for them.

Dele Alli realizes that trauma is trauma and the body registers it in the same way, regardless of its nature. Alli now wants to help other people to know that they are not alone with their feelings. He believes that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.

In the interview, Alli went on to talk about his alcoholic mother, how his mother’s boyfriend molested him at age 6, how he started smoking at age 7, started selling drugs at age 8, wanted to jump off a bridge at age 11, and was adopted at age 12.

Source: Twitter, The Overlap