Dele Alli gives an update on his career as Everton’s star guest appears on Monday Night Football.
Dele Alli says he’s “excited” to return to sport after fighting injuries and addiction over the last few years. The former England international, 28, is entering the final two months of his Everton contract after making just 13 appearances since joining the Premier League club in January 2022. Dele can finally see the “light at the end of the tunnel,” having undergone groin surgery for the second time earlier this year.
On Monday, the former Tottenham midfielder made his first public appearance since an emotional interview with Gary Neville last July, in which he confessed that he had gotten addicted to sleeping pills and had entered into rehab in the United States. Dele revealed on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football that he is doing fine. I believe I remarked in the interview that it was the best I’d felt at the moment. Obviously, he’s coming out of rehab and getting ready to play again. It has been difficult, but it is a journey that I am enjoying, and I am ready to return now.”
The 28-year-old continued, “I’ve had to be patient and understand what patience is. It’s been a long road with the [groin] issue. There have been many ups and downs, and they have all contributed to my personal growth. I’m grateful not for my injuries, but for the opportunity to learn more about myself. I believe that the pain of the injury will be something I can channel and utilize to inspire myself after I recover. “After the interview, many people asked me, ‘When are you coming back to football?’ They assumed I was taking a sabbatical. It’s just been an injury problem, which I’m hoping will be resolved soon. I see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Dele’s interview with Neville sparked an outpouring of solidarity from the football community, as he confessed that he had been sexually molested by his mother’s friend when he was six years old. “When I did the interview, I said, ‘If I help one person, that’s all I needed’,” recalled the MK Dons academy graduate, who has represented England 37 times.
“I had to do it for my own reasons, but helping one person was all I wanted from it, and the response and support I received was truly astounding. It was great to see how many individuals it helped, and I’m quite proud of it.” When asked in February if Dele will play for Everton again, Everton manager Sean Dyche said, “We’ll see. He’s got a long way to go. We purposefully kept him away from that, and we agreed on it with him – just to give him time, distance.
“Hopefully he will return, but we don’t know. We’ve given him the privacy he needs at this time. He’s in terrific health; I chatted with him recently. Making sense of another injury is challenging, but he’ll get through it.