Footballers are warned they risk DEATH by mixing sleeping pills with alcohol - with one star 'seeking professional help' after growing addicted to Premier League players' 'new party drug of choice'

• Players have been warned of potentially fatal dangers of the combination of sleeping pills and alcohol, which produces a legal high
• A Premier League player is reportedly seeking help for addiction 
• Sleeping pills are often used by players to sleep following evening matches
• But they are also being used recreationally on the player party scene 

Footballers have been warned of the potentially fatal dangers of taking prescription sleeping pills and drinking alcohol as an intoxicant.

The combination has become popular on the player party scene but, according to The Daily Telegraph, a Premier League player is seeking help for addiction and there are concerns over another. 

Sleeping pills are widely available from doctors or online and do not feature on the World Anti-Doping Agency's [WADA] list of banned substances.

They are commonly used to help players get to sleep after the adrenaline rush of matches played in the evening, but they also produce a high when mixed with alcohol.

'Before lockdown you would see some players openly popping them in nightclubs or house parties,' a player agent told The Telegraph.

However, there are harmful effects to taking them recreationally, including dependence and the potential to overdose.

Colin Bland, chief executive of the Sporting Chance clinic, described the tablets as 'highly addictive and very dangerous.'

Former England international Paul Merson has previously spoken about a drinking game he used to play with Paul Gascoigne when the pair lived together when at Middlesbrough.

Speaking on Sky's A League Of Their Own show, Merson said: 'Well we used to play a game every day bar Friday.

'We'd get back from training and we'd give my brother and Jimmy [Five Bellies] a load of money to go and get some bottles of red wine.

'We'd put the red wine into these massive jugs then Gazza and my brother would sit on that seat and me and Jimmy would sit on this seat.

'Load of money on the coffee table and then we'd start drinking red wine and every hour we'd pop a sleeping tablet.

'Whoever fell asleep last picked the money off the table and went to bed.'

Sleeping pills are not banned by WADA, like other recreational drugs.

There is a risk of overdose and the combination with alcohol is potentially fatal, according to information service DrugWise.