After former Tottenham Hotspur star Dele Alli opened up about his mental health and difficult upbringing, Eric Dier has commented on how he felt watching his friend discussing these issues.
When he first broke through at Tottenham, it appeared Dele was set for the very top. The playmaker joined Spurs from MK Dons in 2015 and went on to rack up 269 appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring 67 goals and registering 61 assists over the years (Transfermarkt).
Dele was a formidable presence in Mauricio Pochettino‘s Tottenham side, forging an effective link between the likes of Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, and Christian Eriksen. The attacking midfielder was crucial to the relative success Spurs enjoyed during that era.
Sadly, after Pochettino was sacked in November 2019, things began to go downhill for Dele. He struggled to hold down a first team place under Jose Mourinho, and a drastic downturn in form eventually saw Dele leave Spurs to join Everton in January of last year.
The 27-year-old recently completed a loan spell with Turkish side Besiktas before returning to Everton. In the last month, Dele opened up to Gary Neville on The Overlap podcast about his time in rehabilitation for mental health issues and the impact of his challenging upbringing.
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Eric Dier reacts to Dele’s emotional revelation
During that interview, Dele mentioned how supportive Eric Dier had been to him. Now, the Spurs defender has shared his thoughts on the emotional discussion.
A tearful Dier told Football.London: “Obviously, it was difficult to watch. Lots of stuff, not everything, but quite a lot of it I knew already. I was with him just a week before, he was at my wedding.
“I don’t know what to say about it. I don’t want to say anything that I haven’t said to him. I wouldn’t do that. For me it was, as I said, it was difficult to watch, upsetting. I think my overwhelming feeling, which I said to him as well, is probably I’m upset that I didn’t do more.”
On Dele’s admission that he was abused as a child, Dier said: “I wasn’t aware of it. There were things that I was and wasn’t aware of.
“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.”
During the chat, Dier found himself overcome with emotion on several occasions, but found the strength to add: “I don’t really like talking about it publicly because I don’t really feel like it’s my place, you know? I’m happy to say anything that I’ve spoken about with him to a certain extent. He’s been a great friend to me as well, you know.
“When I knew he was in rehab, I spoke to him a few times while he was there and I messaged him, because I was having my wedding… I said to him, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to make it’ [to the wedding], 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. Dele has a heart of gold. He really does. I’m upset with myself and disappointed with myself that I didn’t do more.
“He’s a great friend to me as well, it’s not all one way. He’s done many things over the course of time that mean a lot to me. He’s someone that I know that 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.”
Dele mentioned in his interview that he hopes to come back stronger than ever in footballing terms, and Dier hopes his friend can achieve that. He concluded: “I think he’s probably in the best place he’s ever been. 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.
“It’s always in our hands as players to control whatever we can control. Obviously, the manager will make decisions and clubs will make decisions but as players all we can do is control what we can control. That’s giving ourselves the best chance to be able to play and play well.”
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There is a lot to digest there from Dier, and we can’t begin to imagine to know how he felt about the whole interview and what Dele had to say.
But, Eric has given a very honest and open account of things there that we have to appreciate and respect and it’s clear that he is going to continue to be there for Dele as he recovers.
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