Bamidele Jermaine Alli is an English professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Everton. Check out his interview here.
Dele Alli : Interview | adoptive parents | How old is
Dele joined the youth system at Milton Keynes Dons when he was 11 years old after playing for City Colts.
He made his debut for the first team as a sixteen-year-old on 2 November 2012, coming on as a 64th-minute substitute for Jay O’Shea in a 0–0 draw with Southern Football League club Cambridge City in the FA Cup first round at Milton Road. His first touch in professional football was a back-heeled pass.
His first goal came in the replay against Cambridge eleven days later, where he scored in a 6–1 win at Stadium MK on his first start.
He made his league debut in a 2–3 defeat to Coventry City at home on 29 December, where he played 71 minutes before being replaced by Zeli Ismail.
His only other league appearance in the 2012–13 Football League One season, came as a second-half substitute for Patrick Bamford in the last match of the season, a 2–0 win over Stevenage at Broadhall Way.
The 2013–14 season saw Alli break into the MK Dons first team on a regular basis. He started the Dons’ first league match of the season, a 0–0 draw away at Shrewsbury Town.
Dele Alli interview
Dele Alli has opened up on his troubles in an emotional interview with his former England coach Gary Neville, revealing that he was molested as a child, has battled with addiction to sleeping pills and booked himself into a rehab clinic in the United States.
The 27-year-old England international made a series of shocking revelations on The Overlap, detailed a troubled childhood in which he was sexually assaulted by a friend of his alcoholic mother, start smoking at seven years old and was hiding drugs under a football while riding his bike at eight.
During a 44-minute sit down with Neville, Dele revealed that:
- He spent six weeks in rehab in the US this summer to help him with a sleeping pill addiction.
- He was molested by a friend of his biological mother aged six.
- He started smoking when he was seven and dealing drugs when he was eight.
- He was hung off a bridge by a man from his local area when 11 years old.
- He feels betrayed by his biological parents and has no interest in a relationship with them.
- He considered retiring from football at just 24 because of Jose Mourinho’s treatment of him.
The interview has prompted an outpouring of support and well wishes for the Everton midfielder, who shot to fame at Tottenham Hotspur and has made 37 appearances for England.
“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.
“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.
Dele alli adoptive parents
Dele Alli’s mother is Denise Alli who was a housewife. When the footballer was nine he moved to Nigeria with his father.
He spent two years there at an International School before returning to Milton Keynes to live with his mother.
Denise is English and her name before marriage was Denise Finch.
During an appearance on The Overlap with Gary Neville, he opened up about his traumatic experiences as a child.
He said: “When I was six I was molested by mum’s friend… because my mum was an alcoholic. That happened at six.”
“And then I was sent to Africa to learn discipline and then I was sent back.
Denise and Kehinde are no longer together but met in a nightclub while he was studying for a Master’s at De Montford University.
The pair had a whirlwind romance and tied the knot before having their son Dele.
After around three years of marital issues, Dele’s parents separated, with Kehinde now married to someone else.
At the age of 13, Dele moved into the family home of Alan and Sally Hickford after his biological mum struggled with alcohol issues.
He tends to refer to them as his “adoptive parents” although he was never legally adopted by them.
Dele was friends with the Hickford’s son Harry who was also a keen footballer, with the two of them going on to play for MK Dons Academy.
How old is
Alli was born in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, to a Yoruba Nigerian father, Kehinde, and an English mother, Denise. Kehinde moved to the United States a week after Alli’s birth.
- Age : 27 years old.
Alli was initially brought up by his mother, who suffered from alcohol problems.
At the age of nine, he moved to Nigeria with his father, where he spent two years in an international school, before returning to Milton Keynes to live with his mother.
Alli went to Stantonbury Campus and The Radcliffe School in Wolverton.
Born and raised in Milton Keynes, he joined the youth system at Milton Keynes Dons aged 11 and broke into the first team five years later, during the 2012–13 season.
Over the next two-and-a-half years he made 88 official appearances for the team, scoring 24 goals.
He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in February 2015 for an initial fee of £5 million, being loaned back to the Dons for the remainder of the season.
In each of his first two campaigns at White Hart Lane, Alli was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year and made the PFA Team of the Year. He joined Everton in January 2022 and later that year joined Beşiktaş on loan.
Dele played for the England U17, U18 and U19 teams, before making his senior debut in 2015. He was selected for UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, scoring in the latter and helping England to the semi-finals.
Alli was a Liverpool fan growing up, with Steven Gerrard his childhood idol, and saw Gerrard and Frank Lampard as good role models on how they act as professionals.