Eric Dier has opened up on his relationship with Dele Alli and admitted he wished he did more to help his former Tottenham and England team-mate.
The pair played together at Spurs between 2015 and 2022 and became close friends as they starred during Mauricio Pochettino’s time at the club.
However, Alli begun to struggle for form and fitness and moved onto Everton in 2022, where he has yet to make an impact.
In July 2023, the attacking midfielder, 27, opened up on his career struggles and difficult upbringing in a heartbreaking interview with Gary Neville.
Among the various harrowing revelations in the interview, Alli explained how he was sexually abused at the age of six, started dealing drugs aged eight and also divulged that he spent six weeks in rehab last year because of a sleeping pill addiction and mental health issues.
And Dier, who moved on loan to Bayern Munich in January after 10 years at Tottenham, explained his sadness at Alli’s troubles.
‘It’s difficult for me to talk about Dele,’ he said, speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet.
‘I speak to him all the time, every week, obviously it (the Gary Neville interview) was just very difficult to watch.
‘I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the whole video, I’ve seen bits of it but it’s difficult for me to watch. He said some nice things about me, but it works both ways.
‘He’s also been a great friend to me. It annoys me a little because people after that interview would talk to me, but he’s been a great friend to me as well. Dele is a special person.
‘I remember, I was getting married and knew that he was in America, in rehab, and I spoke to him a few times and said that there would be no problem if he couldn’t come and he was almost insulted, he came and was there for me. That’s the type of friend he’s been to me.’
Dier went onto add that he wished he had done a better job in helping Alli to overcome his struggles and admitted he has many regrets.
He added: ‘I’m disappointed that I didn’t do more. In many situations that I look back on I wasn’t aware of the full picture and there’s a lot of things.
‘I was that annoying older person, I would always be on his case so he would hide things from me, or tell me something but give just 20% of it.
‘I have a lot of regrets and there were certain times that I wish I did more.’
Alli has made just 13 appearances since joining Everton – with the last of those coming in August 2022 – while the attacking midfielder also endured a difficult loan spell with Besiktas last season.
Eric Dier was speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet
