Past Sean Dyche quotes show Dele Alli is in safe hands at Everton

Past quotes from a former Sean Dyche player suggest that Dele Alli is in the right place to rebuild his career following the release of his deeply-open and emotional interview with Gary Neville yesterday.

Alli spoke on the Overlap programme to reveal his mental health issues that have plagued his football career in recent years, as well as across the majority of his life.

Currently training with the Everton squad in Switzerland, he is set to be given a chance to impress during pre-season under Sean Dyche ahead of the new season and he revealed in the interview how much the club has already helped him through major difficulties.

Of course, he returned to the club early from his failed loan spell due to an injury suffered whilst at Besiktas, in a temporary move which saw him play less than 800 minutes last season. But a full pre-season could allow him to rediscover his form now he’s been able to work through the issues that have impaired his life.

His current manager has been praised in the past for helping players through difficult times, with former Ireland international Keith Treacy sharing his experiences of Dyche helping him with depression whilst playing under him at Burnley when speaking on the UndrTheCosh podcast:

“Sean Dyche took a real interest in me as a human being.” Confirmed Treacy. “He was probably the only manager who really tried to sort me out as a human.

“I remember he used to bring me on jogs around the city centre, he said to me ‘Once you get fit, you’ll be in the team, come on I’ll bring you on a jog’ and he did it with me every day. I trained and he said ‘come on, we’ll go on a jog’ so he was there with me and we’d end up having chats like a bleeding psychiatrist, like a father and son chatting about my family, home and what’s wrong with me.

“It gave me confidence that I could speak about these things and the depression, and everything that I was dealing with and the drinking. He said ‘I don’t care if you go onto make 200 appearances for Burnley or 10 - I care about you as a human.”

The club issued a strong statement yesterday in support of Alli, whilst also claimed the club’s players mental and physical wellbeing is at the top of their priorities.

Whilst the support is clearly there for Alli at Everton, Dyche will certainly be working closely with the midfielder during pre-season to help him rediscover his form. And if he can, the club will have a midfielder capable of bringing a new dimension to their side - as well as a brilliant comeback story.

But for most fans, seeing the former Tottenham star happy and smiling once again is the real endgame. The fact he looks to be in a better place is already a victory for Alli, regardless of what comes next.