Dele Alli has revealed he went to rehab for six weeks after returning from his abortive loan spell at Turkish Super Lig club Besiktas this summer in an interview on Gary Neville's podcast, The Overlap.
The former Tottenham player was one of England's brightest starlets and enjoyed a mercurial rise under Mauricio Pochettino in north London.
Breaking into the first team at just 20, Alli was honoured with the PFA's Young Player of the Year award for his performances in the 2015-16 campaign, and the following season, and won a spot in Gareth Southgate's squad to travel to Russia for the 2018 World Cup.
But after struggling with persistent injury, Alli gradually fell out of favour at Tottenham and in January 2022 booked a move to Everton.
Six months later, Alli moved to Besiktas, but after failing to impress his loan club and being hampered by injury, the club sought to cancel his loan early.
Speaking to Neville, Alli shared: 'Now is the right time for me to tell people what's been going on.
'It's tough to talk about because it's something I've hid for a long time. I'm scared to talk about it.
'When I came back from Turkey I found out I needed an operation I was in a bad place mentally and I decided to go to a modern day rehab facility for mental health. They deal with addiction and trauma.
'I felt it was time for me. You can't be told to go there - you have to know and make the decision yourself or it's not going to work. I was caught in a bad cycle and things that were doing me harm.'
In the revealing interview, Alli also shared that he had previously considered retiring at 24.
'One morning I woke up and I had to go training,' he added.
'I remember staring in the mirror and I was asking if I could retire now. At 24. Doing the thing I love.
'For me that was heartbreaking.'
He added: 'It's always been me against myself in everything. I was winning the fight, showing I was happy. But inside, I was losing the battle.'