England football star addicted to sleeping tablets

An England star is addicted to powerful sleeping tablets and is also known to mix them with booze during wild parties. The Premier League hero has been popping pack after pack of Zopiclone after buying them on the black market.

He was caught openly swallowing them with expensive champagne and vodka during illegal lockdown parties. Friends who have regularly witnessed his behaviour have urged him to get help before he ruins his career.

The struggling ace has told pals he prefers the Class C controlled pills are not picked up by standard Premier League drug tests. But his habit leaves him “ineffective, drowsy and lacklustre” in training the next day.

He pops multiple tablets – available only on prescription in the UK – and mixes them with alcohol to make him feel “euphoric”. The source told of the star’s cavalier drug-taking at an illegal lockdown gathering earlier this month.

Zopiclone is prescribed to cure bad cases of insomnia – but doctors only dish out a short course of the drug over two to four weeks because of its addictive nature. Tablets come in two different strengths – 3.75mg and 7.5mg.