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Everton have praised the “bravery” of Dele Alli after the midfielder revealed he was sexually abused as a child, with England captain Harry Kane and Match of the Day host Gary Lineker also supporting him. In an emotional interview, Alli told how he was “molested” as a six-year-old and was dealing drugs aged eight, while he also spoke about alcohol problems, sleeping pill addiction and addressing his mental health struggles by spending six weeks in a rehab clinic. The 27-year-old said he had contemplated hanging up his boots three years ago before leaving Tottenham for Everton in 2022. Alli made just 13 appearances before joining Besiktas on loan last season but is now back at Goodison Park. “The club has been supporting Dele in both his return to fitness and overcoming the personal challenges highlighted in his interview with The Overlap,” an Everton spokesperson said. “Everyone at Everton respects and applauds Dele’s bravery to speak about the difficulties he has faced, as well as seek the help required. “The physical and mental welfare of all our players is of paramount importance. The club takes very seriously its responsibility in protecting the confidentiality of players and staff. “Dele will not be conducting any further interviews in relation to his rehabilitation, and we ask that his privacy is respected while he continues his recuperation from injury and receives the full care and support needed for his physical and mental well-being.” Alli spoke out in an interview with Gary Neville on a special edition of The Overlap podcast in partnership with Sky Bet, which was released on Thursday morning. England skipper Kane, a former teammate of Alli’s at Spurs, retweeted a clip from the interview, posting: “Proud of @dele_official for speaking out and sharing his experience to try and help others.” Another former Spurs teammate, Son Heung-min, took to Instagram stories to deliver his support, posting pictures of the pair together along with the message: “Your brave words will help so many people. Proud of you mate” Lineker tweeted: “This is very powerful and brave. Good luck to you @dele_official.” The Professional Footballers’ Association also issued a statement on Twitter in response to Alli’s interview. “It’s incredibly brave of Dele to tell his story with such honesty in this important interview with @gnev2,” they wrote. “Hearing Dele speak with such openness will make a difference, and his desire to use his own experiences to act as an inspiration to others - inside and outside of football - is something he should be extremely proud of.” Neville himself commented on conducting the interview, claiming it was the “most emotional, difficult yet inspirational conversation I’ve ever had.” “I’m struggling to find the words to put with this post but please watch my most recent interview with Dele,” he wrote on Twitter. “It’s the most emotional, difficult yet inspirational conversation I’ve ever had in my life.” TV presenter Jake Humphrey praised the interview, saying: Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant chat with Dele Alli and @GNev2. These kinds of conversations putting empathy over opinion are so incredibly important. So many people are struggling but don’t feel able to speak. Dele will help them hugely.” Alli won 37 caps for England and the national team also tweeted their support: “Sending our love, @dele_official” Read More Dele Alli reveals childhood drug dealing, sexual abuse and sleeping pill addiction Dele Alli praises ‘best manager’ Pochettino for ‘caring about me as a person’ Dele Alli reveals childhood drug dealing, sexual abuse and sleeping pill addiction Sheffield United sign Anis Slimane from Danish club Brondby

Dele Alli praised Mauricio Pochettino for caring about him as a person, as he opened up to Gary Neville in an emotional interview. The former Tottenham Hotspur star discussed the profound challenges he endured throughout his childhood and the long-lasting effects of trauma on his football career as he spoke on a powerful episode of The Overlap. “Mauricio Pochettino was the best manager and I couldn’t have asked for a better manager at the time,” Alli, 27, said of his time at Spurs. “It wasn’t like a footballer and a manager relationship. It was deeper than that, I felt. He was just so understanding of the decisions I was making, and he was guiding. He cared about me as a person before the football, which is what I needed at that time.”

Dele Alli spent six weeks in rehab in the United States in a bid to deal with mental-health problems stemming from a traumatic childhood and after getting addicted to sleeping pills

Dele Alli has revealed he was sexually abused at the age of six and was dealing drugs two years later – while a recent fight against a sleeping pill addiction led to a six-week stay at a rehab clinic. The Everton midfielder has seen his football career stall in recent seasons but has now spoken on the reasons behind a mental health battle that saw him contemplate hanging up his boots at the age of 24. In an emotional interview, the Everton midfielder and former England international fought back tears as he laid bare his difficult upbringing before he was adopted by the Hickford family. Alli also told Gary Neville in The Overlap podcast, in partnership with Sky Bet, that he only came out of rehab last month as he struggled with his mental health. The 37-cap England star, who spent last season on loan at Turkish side Besiktas, said: “When I came back from Turkey, I came in and I found out that I need an operation and I was in a bad place mentally. “I decided to go to like a modern-day rehab facility for mental health. They deal with like addiction, mental health, and trauma because it was something that I felt like it was time for. “I think with things like that, you can’t be told to go there. I think you have to know, and you have to make the decision yourself, otherwise it’s not going to work.” Alli – a key part of the England side that reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals – also laid bare the sickening abuse he received as a child, saying he was “molested” at the age of six. “(Childhood) is something I haven’t really spoken about that much, to be honest,” he said. “I was sent to Africa (to stay with his father) to learn discipline, and then I was sent back“At seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs. “An older person told me that they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I’d have the drugs, that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man. “Twelve, I was adopted – and from then, it was like – I was adopted by an amazing family like I said, I couldn’t have asked for better people to do what they’d done for me. If God created people, it was them. “There were a number of times my adopted family and my brother – you know, it makes me sad – they would take me to rooms crying, asking me to just speak to them, tell them what I’m thinking, how I’m feeling, and I just couldn’t do it because I wanted to deal with it by myself.” After signing for Tottenham from MK Dons, Alli enjoyed a fine run of form that culminated in playing a key role in England’s progress to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018. But he was still battling in silence off the pitch – leading to a “scary” addiction to sleeping pills and a reliance on alcohol. “I got addicted to sleeping tablets and it’s probably a problem that not only I have, I think it’s something that’s going around more than people realise in football,” he said. “I think, without me realising it – the things I was doing to numb the feelings I had...I didn’t realise I was doing it for that purpose, whether it be drinking or whatever. “I don’t want to talk about numbers but it was definitely way too much, and there were some scary moments I had. “To take a sleeping tablet and be ready for the next day is fine, but when you’re broken as I am, it can obviously have the reverse effect because it does work for the problems you want to deal with. “That is the problem – it works until it doesn’t. So yes, I definitely abused them too much. It is scary, now I’m out of it and I look back on it. “Probably the saddest moment for me, was when (Jose) Mourinho was (Tottenham) manager, I think I was 24. I remember there was one session, like one morning I woke up and I had to go to training – this is when he’d stopped playing me – and I was in a bad place. “I mean it sounds dramatic but I was literally staring in the mirror – and I was asking if I could retire now, at 24, doing the thing I love. For me, that was heart-breaking to even have had that thought at 24, to want to retire. That hurt me a lot, that was another thing that I had to carry.” Alli said that he had largely been able to mask his difficulties during his football career but to the detriment of his mental health. He added: “To be honest, I was caught in a bad cycle. I was relying on things that were doing me harm and, yeah, I think I was waking up every day and I was winning the fight, you know, going into training, smiling, showing that I was happy. “But inside, I was definitely losing the battle and it was time for me to change it because when I got injured and they told me I needed surgery, I could feel the feelings I had when the cycle begins and I didn’t want it to happen anymore. “So, I went there [rehab], I went there for six weeks and Everton were amazing about it, you know. They supported me 100 per cent and I’ll be grateful to them forever.” Dele Alli was speaking to Gary Neville on a special episode of The Overlap in partnership with Sky Bet. 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Francis Ngannou will make more money in his fight with Tyson Fury than in his entire UFC career, according to the Cameroonian’s longtime representative. Ngannou, 36, will box WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, 34, in Saudi Arabia on 28 October, marking the “Predator”’s first fight since January 2022. In that bout, Ngannou beat Ciryl Gane to retain the UFC heavyweight title, which he won in 2021 and vacated this January upon leaving the promotion. Ngannou has since signed with the Professional Fighters League (PFL) – a rival to the UFC – which has granted him the chance to box before he makes his debut with the company in 2024. And per Marquel Martin, Ngannou’s longtime rep, Ngannou will earn more from boxing Fury than he did in his 14 UFC fights combined. Responding to past claims that Ngannou ‘fumbled the bag’ by leaving the UFC, Martin told The MMA Hour on Wednesday (12 July), “Let’s just say this: The bag is so big, he may actually just drop it on the way to the bank. “I don’t know what the haters are trying to say right now, I kind of just blocked it out, but they’ll just be proven wrong again. This is life-changing. This is exactly what we planned and visualised, so we’re happy.” When asked if Ngannou would earn more in the Fury fight than in all of his UFC bouts combined, Martin said: “Oh, my God. I mean, by far – by multiples. Just to make [this money] even while being champion, he would’ve had to fight multiple times, just to [be in this ballpark].” As it stands, Fury’s WBC title will not be on the line in Riyadh, where he fights Ngannou, and it is unclear whether the bout will count towards the Briton’s professional record. However, Martin and Frank Warren – who promotes Fury – have insisted that the contest is not an exhibition fight. “This is an actual fight,” Martin said. “What happens with the WBC belt, we plan on talking with the WBC to get licensed. That’s our plan, and we never know, we may have the opportunity to maybe put his [belt] on the line. I don’t know, that’s for his side. “But I know that, from our side, we plan on hopefully having those conversations and making sure that we do everything in our power to. We want this to go on on [Fury’s professional] record. But again, I’ll set the record straight: This is a real fight.” Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Why Fury vs Ngannou may tarnish the Gypsy King’s legacy forever ‘Nonsense’: Anthony Joshua reacts to Fury vs Ngannou fight announcement Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic confirmed as seismic UFC title fight looms

Newcastle United FC’s Saudi Arabian owners are considering buying another top football club in Europe, a person with

Jordan Henderson is set to face a decision over whether to stay at Liverpool amid interest from Saudi Arabia and the possibility of a lucrative transfer. Liverpool are yet to receive an offer for their captain but Henderson has emerged as a target for Al Ettifaq and their new manager Steven Gerrard. The side is reportedly offering the Liverpool captain £700,000 a week, or around £36 million a year – quadruple his current Premier League wage. Henderson, 33, has two years left on his contract at Anfield but could face a battle for his place after Jurgen Klopp spent £95m revamping his midfield with the signings of World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai. Now Liverpool’s Champions League-winning skipper must determine whether to extend his 12-year stay at Anfield or join a host of players, including his former teammate Roberto Firmino, in signing up to go to Saudi Arabia. Euro 2024 is likely to be a factor in his thinking. Henderson forced his way back into England’s starting 11 during last winter’s World Cup and remains keen to play for his country. Klopp may be reluctant to lose the former Sunderland player, who made 43 appearances last season, after three other midfielders – vice-captain James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – left at the end of the season. The 2020 Footballer of the Year succeeded Gerrard as Liverpool captain in 2015 and led them to their first English league title in three decades five years later. Read More The reason why Liverpool’s worst season under Jurgen Klopp can be a one-off Liverpool thought they’d bought the future – but two wrong moves left them counting the cost Why England will head into 2024 with their sense of optimism restored

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Manchester City has topped the list of FIFA payments to clubs whose players were selected for the 32 national teams in Qatar