Eric Dier ‘disappointed’ that he couldn’t help his close friend Dele Alli | Football News
Eric Dier was in tears while speaking about not able to help his close friend Dele Alli more when he was struggling with the demons of past, which he has revealed in his recent interview with Gary Neville.
Reflecting on Alli’s addiction and abuse confessional, Dier admitted he is ‘upset’ with himself.
“I’m upset with myself and disappointed with myself that I didn’t do more,” Dier told reporters during the pre-season tour to Australia and South-East Asia.
“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.”
Dier said he had known ‘quite a lot’ but not all the details Alli laid bare about his early life.
“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.”