The English midfielder give it thereof the Evertonspoke this Thursday in an interview of his recent release from a detoxification cure for a dependency on sleeping pills, after having fought against the trauma of sexual abuse suffered in his childhood.
Alli, 27 years old and one of the great surnames of the Premier Leaguetold former player Gary Neville, on the podcast “The Overlap”, how he came to sell drugs at the age of eight, before being adopted by a new family when he was twelve.
“At the age of six I was abused by a friend of my mother’s, who often came to the house. My mother was an alcoholic”Alli recounted. “Then I was sent to Africa (to his father’s house) to learn discipline and then they sent me back to England. At seven years old I started smoking, at eight years old I started selling drugs”he claimed.
“An older person told me that they didn’t stop a child on a bicycle, so I was pedaling carrying my soccer ball and hiding drugs underneath. I was eight years old,” explained the player, who was runner-up in England in 2017 and in 2019 runner-up in Europe with Tottenham.
With England he played 37 games and was one of the key pieces of the squad that was a semifinalist in the 2018 World Cup. There he later fell out of favor at ‘Spurs’, before later trying to resurface at Everton. He was on loan at Besiktas last season.
“At the age of twelve I was adopted by an extraordinary family. I couldn’t have dreamed of better people to take care of me”he added.
Alli, who said she hoped her testimony would help other victims, warned of dependence on sleeping pills in soccer, where players are often prescribed such pills before and after games.
“I developed a dependency on sleeping pills and it’s probably a problem I’m not the only one to have. I think it’s more widespread than people in football realize.”he assured, explaining that he underwent a six-week detoxification cure from which he came out “mentally strengthened.”
His former Tottenham teammate and England captain Harry Kane applauded his friend on Twitter: “Proud of @dele_official for speaking up and sharing his experience to help others.”
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
