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Dele Alli confirmed as Sky Sports’ special guest for Monday Night Football – his first media appearance since his powerful interview with Gary Neville… with the midfielder yet to play for Everton this season
By Ed Carruthers
16:34 BST 14 Apr 2024 , updated 17:29 BST 14 Apr 2024
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The Toffees travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea on Monday evening
Dele Alli hasn’t played for Everton since returning from his loan spell at Besiktas
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Sky Sports have confirmed that Everton midfielder Dele Alli will be their special guest on Monday Night Football in what is set to be his first media appearance since his powerful interview with Gary Neville on The Overlap.
The Toffees travel to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Monday night as Sean Dyche’s side look to put more distance between themselves and the relegation zone, after they were deducted two points by the Premier League last week for breaching profit and sustainability rules.
Alli, who joined Everton from Tottenham in 2022, subsequently went on to make 13 appearances for the Toffees before going out on loan to Besiktas in August of the same year.
After enduring a difficult loan spell with the Turkish Super Lig side, Alli returned to the Toffees in the summer of 2023, before opening up on several traumatic experiences he had endured as a child and his struggles with a sleeping pill addiction on The Overlap with Gary Neville.
The 28-year-old earned praise for courageously speaking on his past and on Monday, he is set to make his first media appearance since that powerful interview.
Sky Sports have revealed that Dele Alli will appear on Monday Night Football this week
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Sky Sports have revealed that Dele Alli will appear on Monday Night Football this week
Everton take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as they look climb away from the relegation zone
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Everton take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as they look climb away from the relegation zone
It is set to be his first media appearance since his powerful interview with Gary Neville
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It is set to be his first media appearance since his powerful interview with Gary Neville
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Alli has been working to make a return to the pitch this season and was seen training with the first team towards the end of last year after seeming to have overcome a lon-standing groin injury that had troubled him during his time at Besiktas.
Despite that, he has been hampered by several injuries and while there was some optimism amog Everton fans last year that he was working towards a return to the pitch, he revealed on his social media that he would be ruled out with an injury for the forseeable future.
Alli wrote on social media: ‘As the year comes to an end, I just wanted to say thank you for the incredible support I’ve received over the last 12 months.
‘This year has been a little different for me, I’ve learned and experienced a lot, had ups and downs, but throughout it all you’ve always shown me so much love.
‘Unfortunately the year isn’t ending as I would have hoped, I had been close to returning to full training but frustratingly I’ve had another setback with my injury.
‘I’ll be out again for [a] short while but my outlook and mentality is nothing but positive.
‘I’ll be attacking my physiotherapy and giving it everything to be back on the pitch as soon as possible.
Everton’s Dele Alli has revealed another injury setback just as he neared a return to action
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Everton’s Dele Alli has revealed another injury setback just as he neared a return to action
The midfielder revealed in a New Year Instagram message that he’d suffered a new issue
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The midfielder revealed in a New Year Instagram message that he’d suffered a new issue
The England international has battled a groin issue and hasn’t played since February, when he was out on loan at Turkish club Besiktas
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The England international has battled a groin issue and hasn’t played since February, when he was out on loan at Turkish club Besiktas
‘I hope you’ve had the year you wanted, and wishing you all nothing but the best for 2024.’
Earlier this season, Sean Dyche spoke out on Alli’s fitness woes, saying that it would be ‘very pleasing’ to have him back after his difficulties away from the pitch.
‘He still has a bit to go because he has been out for a long time,’ Dyche said in December. ‘He needs a game programme, but to get him back on with us would be really pleasing for him because he’s been so unlucky.’
While it remains to be seen whether he will return this season to play for the Toffees, it seems as though he’s been working hard behind the scenes to get back to full fitness.
He posted several pictures of himself on Instagram in March stood in what appeared to be a cryo chamber as well as him working out in the gym. He added an inspiring caption to the photos too.
Alli posted several pictures of himself on Instagram working on his fitness as he recovers
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Alli posted several pictures of himself on Instagram working on his fitness as he recovers
He captioned the post: ‘Rest, restart and refocus as many times as you need. You are your own greatest project. Never give up.’
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He captioned the post: ‘Rest, restart and refocus as many times as you need. You are your own greatest project. Never give up.’
‘Rest, restart and refocus as many times as you need. You are your own greatest project. Never give up,’ Alli wrote.
READ MORE: Aged six, I was molested. At eight, I was dealing drugs. At 11, I was hung off a bridge. That was my childhood: DELE ALLI’s harrowing confessional which has stunned football
Earlier this week, his former Tottenham team-mate Eric Dier admitted that he ‘wished he had done more’ to help Alli.
‘It’s difficult for me to talk about Dele,’ he said, speaking on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet.
He added: ‘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.’
The 28-year-old midfielder had emerged as one of English football’s greatest prospects. He had been taken into foster care as a child and revealed during his interview with Neville some harrowing details of his childhood, including an incident in which he was molested by a friend’s mother.
Dier expressed his regrets after learning of Alli’s struggles and finds it hard to talk about him
Dier expressed his regrets after learning of Alli’s struggles and finds it hard to talk about him
Alli has played just 13 times for Everton, with his most recent appearance back in August .
Alli has played just 13 times for Everton, with his most recent appearance back in August 2022
‘(My childhood is) something I haven’t really spoken about that much, to be honest. I mean, I think there were a few incidents that could give you kind of a brief understanding,’ Alli continued.
‘So, at six, I was molested by my mum’s friend, who was at the house a lot. My mum was an alcoholic, and that happened at six. I was sent to Africa 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.’
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