Dele Alli has given a shocking and revealing interview to Gary Neville in which he detailed his difficult upbringing and his struggles with addiction.
The Everton midfielder and former England international revealed he was molested as a child by one of his biological mother’s friends and that he was hung off a bridge by someone from his local area.
“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.”
Dele revealed that throughout his career he had been dealing with the trauma of his upbringing. He said he began dealing drugs when he was eight years old and was exploited by gangs as police would never suspect and search a child.
“At seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs,” he said. “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.”
At the age of 12 his mother realised the best thing was for him to be given up for adoption, and Dele said his adopted family changed his life.
“I was adopted by an amazing family, I couldn’t have asked for better people to do what they’d done for me. If God created people, it was them,” he said.
“They were amazing, and they’ve helped me a lot, and that was another thing, you know – when I started living with them, it was hard for me to really open up to them, because I felt within myself, it was easy to get rid of me again.
