Eric Dier expressed his regret for not being able to do more to help his good friend Dele Alli after watching his emotional interview with Gary Neville on 'The Overlap'.
Alli spoke about the hardships he faced, including being sexually abused at a young age, selling drugs, and battling an addiction to sleeping pills, which eventually led him to seek help in rehab.
Quoted by Daily Mail, Eric Dier said: "It was difficult to watch, upsetting. My overwhelming feeling is probably that I’m upset that I didn’t do more."
Dier, who was once given a tour of Milton Keynes by Alli, had no knowledge of his challenging upbringing. When asked if he knew about Alli's past experiences, he replied: "No, I wasn’t aware of it."
"There were things that I was and wasn’t aware of. A long time ago, I went to Milton Keynes with him and he showed me around where he grew up. He showed me everything so I was aware of the frame of the picture... but not the picture itself."
However, Dier knew Alli was in rehab as he reached out to him over his wedding.
"When he was in rehab - and I knew he was in rehab - I spoke to him a few times and I messaged him, because I was having my wedding," he added. I said to him, 'I don’t know if you’re going to make it' (to the wedding) because obviously I knew what he was going through."
"And the first thing was that he was insulted that I’d asked him if he was going to be there. It was like it was unimaginable that he wasn’t going to be there, even though everything he was going through. That’s the type of person he is, you know?"
"Dele has a heart of gold, he really does. I’m upset with myself and disappointed with myself that I didn’t do more. He’s a great friend to me as well, it’s not all one way."
