Dier 'upset' he couldn't help close friend Alli conquer his demons

Eric Dier ‘upset’ he couldn’t help close friend Dele Alli conquer his demons during their time at Tottenham after childhood abuse confession

• Footballer Alli recently completed six weeks of rehab out in the United States 
• He tackled a sleeping pill addiction and mental health issues after being abused 
• His former Tottenham team-mate Dier believes he could have done more to help 

Eric Dier could not hold back the tears as he spoke of his anguish and regret that he had been unable to help his dear friend Dele Alli conquer his demons during their time together at Tottenham.

Alli recently completed six weeks of rehab in the United States as he tackled an addiction to sleeping pills and mental health issues relating to abuse in his childhood, details of which he revealed for the first time on his return to England this month.

‘I’m upset with myself and disappointed with myself that I didn’t do more,’ said Spurs defender Dier, as he reflected on his friend’s revelations. ‘I was with him just a week before, when he was at my wedding.

‘When he was in rehab – and I knew he was in rehab – I spoke to him a few times and messaged him, because I was having my wedding. I said to him, “I don’t know if you’re going to make it”, because obviously I knew what he was going through.

‘And the first thing was that he was insulted that I’d asked him if he was going to be there. It was like it was unimaginable that he wasn’t going to be there even though everything he was going through. That’s the type of person he is, you know. Dele has a heart of gold, he really does.’

Eric Dier has opened up on his close friend Dele Alli’s battle with his personal demons

Dier believes he could have done more to help Alli as he struggled during his Tottenham stint

Reflecting on Alli’s addiction and abuse confessional, Dier admitted he is ‘upset’ with himself

Alli arrived at Tottenham from Milton Keynes Dons in the summer of 2015, one year after Dier joined from Sporting Lisbon.

Alli was 19 and Dier 21 when they met. They had very different upbringings but struck an instant friendship and, for a time, their careers unfolded in parallel. One solid, versatile and dependable at the back. The other, quick and elusive, influencing games at the other end with goals of all sorts.

They were integral as Mauricio Pochettino created an exciting young Spurs team. When Dier won his first England cap, it was as a sub, coming on with Alli in Spain, in November 2015. They made their first England starts together against France, four days later.

Dier is still at Spurs, now in the final year of his current deal. Alli left for Everton in January last year having lost his form and place in the team amid concerns about his lifestyle and reliance on sleeping pills.

Only when he opened up this month in an interview with Gary Neville, about the trauma of a childhood when he was molested at six, started smoking at seven and delivered drugs around the estates of Milton Keynes at eight, did the scale of his personal torment become clear.

Dier said he had known ‘quite a lot’ but not all the details Alli laid bare about his early life. ‘A long time ago, I went to Milton Keynes with him and he showed me around where he grew up. He showed me everything, so I was aware of the outline of the picture, the frame, but not the picture itself.’

Alli became reliant on sleeping pills while at Spurs, taking them to numb feelings, he said, and reaching a point where he took them in the daytime. He did his best to conceal it but some teammates knew he had problems. Dier, Harry Kane, Ben Davies and Son Heung-min were among those to confront him about it.

Alli spoke about his childhood trauma during an emotional interview with Gary Neville (above)

Dier said he had known ‘quite a lot’ but not all the details Alli laid bare about his early life

There is hope that Alli, now aged 27, will be able to recapture some of his magic at Everton

‘Sometimes it was hard to hide and they definitely weren’t pleased,’ Alli told Neville on The Overlap. ‘The likes of Eric Dier, he’s a great friend and you realise who your real friends are, people that don’t just say yes. A lot of players didn’t approve… and weren’t afraid to tell me. Especially Harry and Eric, those two are brutally honest.’

Dier took long pauses to compose himself as he spoke during the pre-season tour to Australia and South-East Asia, tearful and searching carefully for words as he addressed the matter for the first time.

‘I don’t want to say anything I haven’t said to him,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘I wouldn’t do that. For me, it was difficult to watch, upsetting. My overwhelming feeling, which I said to him, is probably I’m upset I didn’t do more.

‘He’s been a great friend to me. He just has been. It’s not all one way. He’s done many things over the course of time that mean a lot to me. I know I could call him right now if I needed him to be here in Singapore and he’d come. That’s the kind of friend he is.’

Alli moved on loan to Besiktas in Turkey, last season, a spell curtailed by injury before his rehab, which has given those close to him hope that at 27 he might recapture some of the magic at Everton, where he has one more year on his contract.

‘He’s probably in the best place he’s ever been,’ said Dier. ‘Obviously, that’s what everyone wants. He’s still so young. He can still do whatever he wants to do, that’s the beauty of football. It’s up to him. It really is in his hands.’

Eric Dier was talking at a batik art class with Children’s Wishing Well, a charity in Singapore that supports children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

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