Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara has offered advice – and a warning – to Dele Alli.
The Everton midfielder is facing a career collapse after flopping at Besiktas this season.
O’Hara wrote for the Daily Mail: “When it’s gone, it’s gone. Your legs have gone, your flexibility is gone. There is no way back. You might have money to last forever, but you don’t have your career.
“You have been blessed with a talent, don’t give it up, Dele. Get fit, visualise being on that pitch again, creating magic. You can get there. No regrets!
“Like Dele, I too was 27 years old and I was feeling cast aside. That’s so young, too early. You think you can play forever.
“Series 19 of Celebrity Big Brother had finished, there were bad influences within my circle of ‘friends’. I was being advised to see how often I could get myself onto the showbiz pages of MailOnline. That’s how they counted success. And I was addicted to a fake lifestyle.
“I was lost, depressed. It was dangerous.
“Dele Alli has achieved a lot more than I did in my professional career, but he also has a lot more to lose.
“He needs to find a way out. He needs to find a way to play again once he is fit. He needs to get himself somewhere where he can enjoy waking up for work again.”
