'I was the annoying older person' - Eric Dier admits to holding 'a lot of regrets' over Dele Alli relationship at Tottenham after Everton midfielder's moving interview with Gary Neville

Dier worked alongside fellow England international Dele in north London, with a close bond struck up between the pair. They shared plenty of jokes and were often seen to be in high spirits, but Dele revealed during an emotional interview with Gary Neville in 2023 that he was dealing with a number of issues off the field that made it difficult for him to produce his best and keep a smile on his face.

Dier wishes he had done more during that time of mental struggle - with the current Bayern Munich star telling The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet: “It’s difficult for me to talk about Dele. I speak to him all the time, every week, obviously it was just very difficult to watch [the interview with Neville]. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the whole video, I’ve seen bits of it but it’s difficult for me to watch, he said some nice things about me, but it works both ways – he’s also been a great friend to me. It annoys me a little because people after that interview would talk to me, but he’s been a great friend to me as well – Dele is a special person. I remember, I was getting married and knew that he was in America, in rehab, and I spoke to him a few times and said that there would be no problem if he couldn’t come and he was almost insulted, he came and was there for me – that’s the type of friend he’s been to me.”

Dier added on being unable to help Dele as he had no idea quite how serious things had become: “I’m disappointed that I didn’t do more, in many situations that I look back on I wasn’t aware of the full picture and there’s a lot of things – I was that annoying older person, I would always be on his case so he would hide things from me, or tell me something but give just 20% of it – I have a lot of regrets and there were certain times that I wish I did more.”

Dele’s career has stalled on the back of his troubles at Tottenham, with a 2022 transfer to Everton not playing out as planned. The 27-year-old is seeing his contract at Goodison Park run down, with a new challenge set to be taken on when hitting free agency this summer.