Dele Alli’s interview on Gary Neville’s Overlap made huge waves last week after the former Spurs star opened up about his traumatic childhood, revealing he’d been sexually abused as a child, sent to Africa to learn ‘discipline’ at age 7, began dealing drugs aged 8, was adopted aged 12, and then developed an addiction to sleeping pills as a pro footballer.
Well, perhaps predictably, a ‘close family member’ of Dele Alli has denied the claims made by the 27-year-old Everton midfielder. Speaking to OJBSPORTS, the family member said:
“Dele was never adopted by anyone. At age seven, Dele attended one of the best schools in Lagos, Nigeria. He was never sent to Africa for discipline. That’s a blatant lie. He had a driver that picked him daily from school.”
He added that Dele Alli has been ‘brainwashed’ and vowed to expose him using photos from Alli’s childhood:
“We have all the documents and pictures of Dele with his dad from when he was born as a kid. Dele has been brainwashed.”
Well, in fairness to Dele Alli, he never said that he had a terrible life in Nigeria or that he didn’t have a personal driver or go to one of the best schools in the country. Just that he didn’t enjoy it there, was sent there against his will, and was disciplined a lot. Also, he may not have been “legally” adopted by the family he calls his adoptive family, but that doesn’t make him a liar, does it?
I guess this ‘close family member’ is going to have to come with more ammo if he wants to expose Dele Alli as a fibber, and he’d obviously be more than welcome to by the tabloids of the world. Where are these documents and photos that supposedly prove that Dele Alli is full of BS?
If there’s anything to these claims, I’m sure we’ll hear about it soon enough. For now it’s great that Dele Alli was able to open up and shed some light on why his career panned out the way it did. Now that he’s getting the help he needs, maybe there’s a Dele Alli comeback story on the cards?
