Ex-England ace Ledley King backs Dele Alli to rediscover form on return to Everton
Ledley King has backed Dele Alli to prove himself at Everton after the midfielder opened up about his childhood problems in a recent interview.
The 27-year-old talked on 13 July to Gary Neville on The Overlap YouTube channel about his childhood, sexual abuse and his addiction to sleeping pills.
There have been a number of people that have come out in support of Alli over the past few weeks, with King, who’s now an ambassador at Tottenham, expressing his support for him on a Twitter Space on 2 August alongside Paul Merson.
“I was really proud of Dele for having the courage to come out and talk about his childhood,” said King.
“I was lucky enough to coach with Dele a little bit and, first and foremost, I could see he was a really good kid. He spoke to me a little about his childhood, he didn’t share as much as he shared in the interview but he told me a few things about how difficult it was for him growing up.
“Hopefully, he gets his game back on track because you don’t lose talent like that overnight. It’s just down to him to try and get that confidence back and show everyone what he can do.”
Strong backing
There will be very few people that won’t be hoping Alli can rediscover the form of his younger days after the brave interview he gave on The Overlap.
He certainly hasn’t had an easy life, but it’s great to see he still has the hunger and desire to carry on playing at the highest level despite all he’s been through.
The backing of the likes of King, who have had the opportunity to work with him, will be important as he needs all the help and support he can get to regain his confidence.
His time at Goodison Park hasn’t been great so far after failing to score or register an assist in his 13 games for the club since joining from Tottenham last year.
But Sean Dyche isn’t the kind of manager that’s not going to offer his support and he’ll be doing everything he can to help the midfielder get back to his best because he could prove to be a real asset for the Blues moving forwards.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are chasing a £22million winger to replace an outgoing star this summer.