‘I felt so betrayed’ — Dele Alli on relationship with Nigerian father

Former Tottenham Hotspur starlet, Dele Alli has finally revealed the status of his relationship with his birth parents.

In an interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap, Alli, who has struggled to replicate the form and technical skill set he was once known for at Tottenham, explained his struggles, how he has gone to rehab to deal with the trauma he had to put up with as a child and his relationship with his Nigerian father.

The midfielder was born in England, to a Nigerian father, and an English mother, but he mentioned he didn’t have the best relationships with either parent growing up, as there were no “boundaries”.

From smoking at the age of seven to doing drugs at eight, Alli was sent to Nigeria to learn discipline by his mum, but that did not last long, as the culture change was too much for him to handle, and after just six months, he moved back to England.

The 27-year-old changed his jersey name from Alli to Dele in 2016, after revealing he had no connection to the name. He said;

“I had no rules. I didn’t grow up with any rules. My mum drank a lot, and I understand her better now because of what she was going through. My blood dad lived in Africa, and I got sent to him, to stay there for a year, and it was horrible. I didn’t want to be there at all. It was a big culture change, and I didn’t want to be there, and after six months, I got sent back, and I don’t speak to him again.”

The former Everton attacker gave an explanation for why he no longer wants a relationship with his real father, citing how distant his father became while he was growing up.

“He went missing for a while, and then when I started playing for England he came back, and when I was around eighteen, they went to the press to accuse my adopted family of taking advantage of me and that they want to go through my contracts. I hadn’t spoken to him for years, so I knew that was not my mum’s decision, so I felt so betrayed and let down that I had to cut the relationship with my mum, and for my dad, I don’t want the relationship anyway.”

Earlier in Dele’s career, popular Nigerian, John Fashanu tried to convince him to play for Nigeria, but he opted to play for England. Alli is currently under contract with Everton until the end of the 2023/2024 season.