Paul Pogba's defence of Dele Alli as he takes aim at media "destroying" him

12 September 2023 , 07:16

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Paul Pogba has taken aim at the media's treatment of some players (Image: Getty Images)

Paul Pogba has launched a strong defence of Dele Alli - taking aim at the media for "destroying him" before backing him in light of his recent confessions.

The former Tottenham star was once hailed as a generational talent but quickly fell away and now finds himself on the books at Everton, albeit he's not getting much game time. Previously a PFA Young Player of the Year, Dele's fall from grace was sharp.

Criticism regularly came his way and he failed to reignite his career in Turkey. He opened up however on the Overlap, citing off pitch issues that included being abused as a child and an addiction to sleeping pills. Support has come from all angles - but Pogba never saw any sense of compassion from the media prior to that interview.

He told Al Jazeera : "I saw Dele Alli do the interview. It is so easy now he's spoken out for everybody to be behind, support him but for so long they've been killing him. But who, when they were killing him, I saw nobody in the media ask him whats going on, mentally and stuff like that.

"We're going through a lot, we grew up to play football, we didn't grow up to get ready for the media. They will bring you up so high, then bring you down to destroy you. I didn't learn to get ready for the negative talk, the criticism - I just came to play football.

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"I was with my friends playing, then you get to a first team, you play and score goals, get all the praise, hailed as the best young player. Then, things happened in his life and they're destroying him, no one is asking if he's okay, they don't care."

Dele Alli opened up in a powerful interview with Gary Neville (The Overlap)

Dele's frank and honest conversation with Gary Neville invoked a very emotional response for the Englishman, who is no longer in the picture with the national side.

He said: “I’m hoping [opening up like this] helps people. It will help me. I think it’s something I needed to explain and get off my chest, and I wanted to say it in the way I felt was the truth. Because, like I said, people write stuff and they can word it however they want – and I’m sure they will."

Pogba too was often a target for those in the media amid his inconsistent six year spell at Manchester United. The club's record-signing returned to much fanfare in 2016 for £89m but was never able to deliver like he did at Juventus amid constant criticism over his playing levels.

Samuel Meade