Let’s take a look at some Footballers Who Hate Their Families. The dream of many footballers is to get to the very top of their game so that they can take care of their families while also making them proud. But that’s surely not every footballer’s dream, as there are quite a number who absolutely do not care about their families.
Footballers Who Hate Their Families
Now, let us check out 7 footballers who hate their families.
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1. Virgil van Dijk
First of all, have you ever noticed that the Liverpool center-back does not have his last name on the back of his jersey? That’s usually the first indication that all is not great back home. And in the Dutchman’s case, all, actually isn’t great. One of his uncles explained that the reason van Dijk only uses Virgil, his first name, on his kits is because of a feud he has with his family, particularly his dad, Ron van Dijk.
According to his uncle Steve, when Virgil was still young, Ron abandoned him and his siblings, leaving his mother to take care of all of them alone. The defender has not been able to forgive his father for that and as he doesn’t feel very connected to him, he decided not to carry his name on his back when he’s on the pitch.
2. Dele Alli
Dele Alli also carries his first name on the back of his kits, and it is also because he does not feel a connection with his family. The Everton midfielder was born to a Nigerian father and a British mom. His childhood was so tumultuous, and he blames his parents completely for it.
He was born in the UK, and just a week after his birth, his father moved to the US. So, in his early years, he was raised by just his mother. But the problem was that his mom was an alcoholic. So, when he was 9 years old, he moved to Nigeria to go live with his father. He spent two years there and went back to the UK to live with his mom again.
But when he clocked 13, he was completely done with his family. He left his birth parents completely and went to live with the parents of one of his teammates back at MK Dons in Hickford. To today, he still refers to Alan and Sally Hickford as his adoptive parents, even though they never legally adopted him.
In 2016, after he had signed with the Spurs, he decided to stop using the name Alli at the back of his jersey because he felt no connection with the family name.
3. Memphis Depay
The Barcelona forward only officially goes by his first name. According to him, he was abandoned by his father when he was just 4 years old and he didn’t think it wise to keep carrying around the name of a man who caused him so much hurt.
But in an interesting turn of events, the footballer’s father, Dennis Depay, came out a few years ago to deny the allegations. He admitted that his marriage with Memphis’ mom fell apart, but he insisted that he remained involved in their lives. He even said that he was the one who gave Memphis his first ball. So, it hurt him so much to see his son, who is now a successful footballer, publicly cut ties with him.
We still don’t know what the truth of this matter is, but we know that in 2012, Memphis decided to stop carrying his last name on his shirt. He even very famously said:
“Do not call me Depay. Call me Memphis.”
4. Mario Balotelli
Balotelli did not just drop the name of his birth parents from his jersey, he changed it altogether. The striker was born Mario Barwuah to Ghanaian parents who had moved to Italy before he was born.
As a very young boy, Balotelli had some serious health issues, and his birth parents could not afford to take care of him, so he was taken from them and placed in foster care to Silvia and Francesco Balotelli.
In the beginning, the arrangement was that he would stay with the Balotellis during the week and then go to his birth parents for the weekend. But along the line, it seems like something broke down, and he just started staying with the Balotellis full-time and he even went on to adopt their last name. They never officially adopted him, though, so he had to wait till 2008, when he was 18, to gain Italian citizenship.
At Euro 2012, he scored twice against Germany in the semis to send Italy to the final, and he dedicated both goals to his adoptive mother, Silvia. Since he became famous, Balotelli has hardly ever talked about his biological parents. It’s like he has completely erased that part of himself.
5. Ainsley Maitland-Niles
What we know about Ainsley is that he grew up with just his mom, Jules, and his brother, Cordi. But somewhere along the line, something really big must have gone wrong, as he does not seem to have any love for his mother at all.
A few years back, Jules came out to talk about how her millionaire son had abandoned her, and she had to sneak into a warehouse every night to sleep in the freezing storage. It would appear that the relationship between mother and son broke down when Ainsley was about 20 years old. Because, when he was a teenager making his debut for Arsenal, he said that he was going to frame that shirt and give it to his mom. So, they were still cool at that time.
But in 2015, she reportedly got involved in a row with Arsenal’s chief negotiator, which turned violent, and she was even arrested for it. After all that was sorted, Ainsley paid for her to take a break in Australia for a while. It was after she got back that her sons abandoned her, moving out of the house they all lived in together and leaving her to fend for herself. Neither of the boys have said much about the matter, so there isn’t so much information about the fine details of the matter.
6. Lucas & Theo Hernandez
Lucas and Theo Hernandez who play for Bayern Munich and AC Milan respectively, also do not have a good relationship with their father. Their dad, Jean-Francois, happens to be a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Atletico Madrid. Apparently, Jean-Francois abandoned his sons after he and their mother got a divorce close to 20 years ago.
Here is what Lucas, the older of the two boys, had to say when he was asked about his dad a few years ago:
“…he left because he did not love us. And if he did not love us, then it was better that he left. I am 23 years old now and I was five or six years old [when he left]. It would now have been about 16 or 17 years since we have heard nothing more from him.
“I don’t know where he is, what he does, whether he is still alive or not. Meanwhile, I have started my own little family. Since he has not contacted us so far, he will not be interested – or he simply does not feel like joining us.”
7. Emmanuel Adebayor
When it comes to family troubles, nobody in football has had it tougher than former Arsenal striker, Emmanuel Adebayor. The Togolese superstar has always been very vocal about the issues he has had with his family.
He talked about how a lot of his relatives would just randomly ask him for ridiculous amounts of money. He talked about how his own sister once rented out a house that he bought for her without letting him know at all.
Also, according to him, his late brother, Peter, sent a letter to Real Madrid when he was there on loan in 2011, telling them not to keep him after the loan spell. And that wasn’t even all. Adebayor went on to accuse his family of already sharing his properties among themselves while he is still alive, saying stuff like “If he dies, you get this car, you get this house”.
The former Man City man even accused his own mother of using voodoo on him, stating that as the reason he cut her off. When asked about it, he said:
“But how am I going to be in touch with my mum if my mum is the one telling everyone that my work will not go forward?”
It’s a pretty sad story when families fall apart, and you just have to feel for these men because this is not something we wish upon anybody at all.
If you know any other players who have a tiff with their families, let us know in the comments!
