It was an uncomfortable watch, but you could not take your eyes off it.
As Dele Alli disclosed, so honestly, the unfathomable childhood trauma he has kept locked inside, and his subsequent addiction to sleeping tablets as he sought to cope with those experiences, I could not help but reflect on my past meetings with the forward.
Early on, Alli spoke rarely, as Tottenham and England tried to protect a player viewed as a generational talent. But when he did, whether it was in a mixed zone, at Tottenham’s Enfield HQ or England’s base in Burton, I couldn’t help but sense Alli’s insecurities.