SINGAPORE — When Dele Alli earlier this month emotionally revealed the childhood traumas he suffered, starting with being sexually abused at the age of six which eventually led to addiction to sleep medication that culminated in a recent six-week stint at a rehab facility in the United States, he received an outpouring of support.
It was no surprise that one of the first who took to social media to back Alli was Son Heung-min, who in an Instagram story posted: “Your brave words will help so many people.”
After all, Son and Alli were not just former teammates who began their Tottenham careers at the same time in 2015, they were also close friends.
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A special handshake between just the two of them (although Son admittedly has a different one for almost every teammate). Son patiently and humourously — with brief moments of mock exasperation — trying to teach Alli how to speak Korean at a PR event.
Until Alli left Spurs at the start of last year to join Everton, the duo did not just click on the pitch for a team consistently finishing in the top four of the Premier League, they got on tremendously off it. When Alli revealed the harrowing experiences from his youth, even former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said the interview was “so painful” that he could not finish watching it.
Alli now believes he is in “the best place” he has ever been. And as expected, Son is fully backing his friend — who at one point seemed destined to be one of the best players in the world — to rediscover his feet.
“I feel really sorry about it because he is one of my close, close friends,” Son told ESPN. “But he’s definitely a strong guy that I always trust.
“I will always believe in him — [that] he will come back as a strong person as before. I’m definitely supporting him.”
