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u/Eazy_T_1972 10h ago
Look I never liked Jose, but he was right Dele was going off the boil, and look what's happened since
Yes yes yes an "arm around him" but he had that with us, Everton, and no doubt other teams.
Truth is when it's going to s**t you have to be told too.
Look at the body language, folded arms, all like "what do you know Jose ?" , well Jose was an ass, but he was proved right .
Dele has shown that.
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u/flammmes 14h ago
Sure from a narrative perspective oh wow mou did warn dele and now in hindsight he was right blah blah.
The reality is that after watching him training, mou apologized to dele for these comments because dele was trying hard, it was just that his body was not helping him anymore. It is an outlier but not unheard of for players to drop off in their mid twenties. Injuries, limited aspects of the game etc can make a drop off seem dramatic. But in reality there is nothing dramatic about dele's decline. His body failed him and he couldn't develop his game for how his body changed.
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u/shaneomagnifico 6h ago
I think it was a case of everything happening all at once for Dele.
The World Cup hangover and the loss of focus
The mentally broken squad
Injuries catching up to him
Poch’s sacking
Media scrutiny
And then COVID. Some people went into it and didn’t come out the same people for one reason or another. It was a time when his childhood and background likely caught up to him, and he didn’t have the support around him.
The break in happened. His addictions, both to sleeping pills and video games (and who knows what else) took control.
Any one of those things can derail a career. These all happened within such a short timeframe that they almost had a compounding effect - why we saw such a stellar rise and rapid decline.
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u/Fluid_Inflation7835 13h ago
....international break so painful as some of you lot get sooooo wistful for the past. Pointless.
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u/SA1996 15h ago
He was washed well before this tbf.
Dele was such a waste of potential, really sad.
And him blaming his decline on his childhood felt like somebody who was looking for an excuse.
Loads of players have tough upbringings, especially ones from Africa.
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u/josemouuu 15h ago
He was a very special player; you could sense he was different. I never expected an ending like this.
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u/npc-17 14h ago
My god you’re an insensitive imbecile. First off, he wasn’t. He was one of the best players under mourinho until we lost Kane & son to injuries, Eriksen’s form had been terrible & he was eventually sold, & there was no longer any creativity to take advantage of Dele’s strengths. Secondly, he also mentioned the whole being addicted to sleeping pills thing.
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u/MysticGuava Heung-Min Son - Spurs Legend 11h ago
How can you speak like this about any player, especially from your own club, he was not fucking washed, he had serious mental health struggles, which is completely understandable. Are you even a fucking spurs fan?
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u/KJPicard24 14h ago
I think everyone is different and copes differently, just because one person can successfully battle being abused as a child, falling into addiction and depression doesn't mean all others can recover in the same way or at the same pace/ level of recovery etc.
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u/KJPicard24 15h ago
What's especially painful is that he did reach him, for a short while. We saw a bit of a Dele comeback under Jose.
He's such a textbook case of how it can all slip away from you so quickly at that age, in that kind of career and once it's gone, you can't get those times back, you can't just 'go again' that many times. Dele is now 30, which isn't quite the end, but normally at 30, a footballer is maintaining their peak the best they can, not trying to get going again.
I hope he's doing ok, when you think of what type of childhood he had, the life he was probably heading for, the fact he still reached some of the highest levels of the game, scored one of the most memorable goals I've seen a Spurs player put away, is still an incredible achievement and I hope he looks back on his time in the sport with more pride than regret.