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‘Heartbreaking’: 27-year-old says he wanted to retire during working with Jose Mourinho at Tottenham
Dele Alli has opened up about his struggles within the world of football.
In an interview with Gary Neville on , the midfielder has been discussing his life and the issues he’s had within football as of late.
Alli touched on some truly heartbreaking instances within his life, and it’s easy to understand why he’s been struggling as of late after watching this interview.
According to Alli, his saddest moment in football was at Tottenham during the time when Jose Mourinho was the manager, and he says that at the age of 24 he was already contemplating retiring from the game at such a young age.
Alli wanted to retire
The midfielder spoke about wanting to quit football.
“The saddest moment for me was when Mourinho was manager, I was 24, and there was one session. One morning I woke up and I had to go to training, this was when he had stopped playing me, and I was looking into the mirror, and it sounds dramatic, and I was asking if I could retire now at 24 doing the thing I love, for me that was heartbreaking,” Alli said.
The midfielder did stress that he didn’t blame Mourinho for his own struggles later in the interview.
“We’re all human and it breaks and it all comes out wrong. I turned to the wrong thinks and I don’t blame Mourinho, I don’t blame anyone, you know my reaction to that wasn’t right, it wasn’t something I had control over,” Alli said.
Such a shame
It’s such a shame to see anyone speaking about their passion in this way, and it’s even sadder to see a player like Dele Alli speaking in this way.
The 27-year-old was a truly prodigal talent during his early times at Spurs, he played with so much joy, he always had a huge smile on his face, and he was one of the very best players in the Premier League.
Of course, none of that matters when it comes to off-field struggles, and we wouldn’t wish that on any footballer, but it is that much more painful to see a player who shone so brightly now speaking in this way.
We can only hope that Alli can get back to his best at some point and rediscover his love for the game.