London, June 28 : Troubled football legend Paul Gascoigne, popularly known as `Gazza', slurred his words and slumped in a chair after attending a booze bash at a Middle East hotel.

The Geordie star, who was once among the nation's most talented soccer idols, attended the party in Dubai, while worried onlookers revealed how Gazza, 45, behaved with chalk from a pool cue smeared on his face.

He also lost hundreds of pounds on pool table bets before eventually being carried away by a concerned promoter and his life-long pal Jimmy Five Bellies.

Gazza, who has battled years of drink and drug abuse in the wake of his glittering soccer career, was in Dubai on a speaking tour.

"It's so tragic. He was really friendly but just looked like a ghost," The Sun quoted an expat Kareem Ghani, as saying.

"Everyone around him was drinking. The measures here are massive so these are huge quantities of alcohol. He really needs help before it's too late. He's a football legend and he shouldn't have ended up like this. He needs better protecting," he added.

The star, who recently appeared in billboard ads for a sportswear manufacturer, was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2008 and has told of battles with cocaine, bulimia and bipolar disorder.

However, a spokesman for Gazza denied that he was drunk and that he was headed back to rehab.

Paul Gascoigne is currently at home in Dorset after a week in Newcastle and a trip to Dubai for the England v Ukraine Euro 2012 match," his agent Matt Jones said.

"Committed to his health and wellbeing, he works out every day, he has only been drinking soft drinks and non-alcoholic cocktails," he added. (ANI)