I was once a Premier League genius, but I lost myself at the crossroads of 29 years old

In the story of the ups and downs of the football world, some people reach the top and some quietly leave, while the story of Dele Ali is a meteor crossing the sky - short and dazzling, but eventually falling into the long night. In the summer of 2025, the transfer window of European football is still noisy, with sky-high transfers, buzzer-beating signing, and loyal staying at the team. Every piece of news is stirring the nerves of fans. But on such a crazy day, an official announcement that was almost overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle quietly came to an end for a once glorious career - 29-year-old Dele Ali was officially terminated by Cuomo, whom he played for. There is no grand farewell, no affectionate tribute, only a cold announcement, and a yesterday that can never be returned.

The Proud Child of Heaven, the starting point of being worth over 100 million yuan

Once upon a time, the name Dele Ali was synonymous with genius and the future. At the age of 19, he entered the Premier League with a stance that cannot be ignored, setting off a youth storm in Tottenham's midfield. In his first season, he handed in a double-digit double-double report card with double-digit goals and assists - such performance is rare even in the history of the Premier League with frequent geniuses. He is smart in football, runs in a ghostly way, and has a sense of goal and pass vision, as if he is born to be a top-notch stage. Fans cheered him and the media crowned him. The title of "British Emperor Star" full of high hopes and doting has since become his most distinctive label. After the praise, it is a real affirmation. His value is like a rocket, breaking through the sky. In that era when gold-dollar football began to flourish in 2018, Alibaba's market valuation reached 100 million euros. In the global value rankings at that time, only Neymar, Mbappe, Messi and Harry Kane were among the top ones - all of which were legends or supernovas that defined a generation of football. Everyone, including himself, firmly believes that this is just the beginning. He will be the banner of Tottenham Hotspur’s future, the core of ZTE in England, and a regular on the shortlist for the Golden Globes. The sky at that time seemed to be his limit.

Lost in direction and fall from the peak at a rapid pace, however, the road to greatness is not a smooth road. Alibaba's peak ended earlier and faster than everyone expected.

I don't know when, the agile midfielder began to become slow, and the sharp attacker gradually disappeared on the field. Late training, scattered attitude towards the game, and constant gossip news off the court... His professional trajectory began to deviate. Mourinho, then head coach of Tottenham, left behind the famous and almost prophetic admonition during a documentary filming: "Dele, you are wasting your talent. If this continues, you will retire at the age of 30." This sentence sounded harsh at the time, but now looking back, it is a prophecy.

Criticism from the outside world came like a tide, but he seemed to build a high wall. He still lingers in the nightclub and still does his own way. His career began a free-fall decline: from Tottenham's absolute core to Everton's marginal figure; from the spotlight of the Premier League to the unwillingness of Besiktas, Türkiye. Every transfer is highly expected to "start again", but every ending is another disappointment.

Behind this sad fall is a broken childhood that many people ignore. Ali was abandoned by his father at the age of 8. His mother was addicted to alcohol and could not take care of him. He was once forced to make a living on the streets, and even relied on running errands for drug dealers in exchange for food. Although he was later adopted by a teammate's family and finally gained stability and care, the trauma and insecurity in his childhood may have laid the groundwork for his loss as an adult. Some people say he is "talented and brainless", but this kind of criticism is too light. His story is not only about self-discipline, but also about how a child spends his whole life to heal his childhood.

wandered around and stood on the verge of retirement

Ali's last step in her career, trying to step into the Italian town of Como. Here is the call of the Serie A legend Fabregas and the tranquility of lakes and mountains, which is also seen as the last stop for Ali football redemption.

But there is no fairy tale in reality. For a whole season, his appearance record in Como was cruelly frozen in "1". Most of the time, he even made it a luxury to be on the big list. The club eventually lost patience and severed his last professional flames completely blew out with a document of termination.

At the same time, his value tells a colder economic reality: from the peak of 100 million euros to the current one, with a shrinkage of more than 50 times, which is one of the most tragic depreciation cases in the professional sports world. It coldly measures the whole process of a genius from being longed for by the whole world to being abandoned by everyone.

Now, Ali, who is only 29 years old, is seriously considering retirement. This age should be the golden age where experience, technology and body are best combined for many midfielders. However, for Ali, his golden age has long been around six years ago. His story is a huge question mark about talent, trauma and destiny.