He'll definitely need help in the future. It may not be to stop drinking. Over time, his drinking will have consequences and problems will compound. Eventually those problems will overwhelm his coping capacity. What gets very frustrating for those who love an alcoholic is that they tend to want help with the consequences of drinking, but they want to keep drinking. I've been there.

Even if and when an alcoholic stops drinking, he will still have consequences to the years of drinking that abstinence can't relieve him of. Heavy drinkers often aren't saving for future needs. Adult children of alcoholics tend to be stand-offish to the drinker, even if he becomes an ex-drinker. I'm dealing with that now. My guy is older and in poor health. I care for him pretty much alone. His kids wish him well, but they aren't going to go out of their way much for him because they remember when he made drinking a higher priority than he made them.

How do you see things playing out, if you eventually meet a man you do want to be with romantically? What will you do about this current friendship? Be careful of setting precedents that will give him expectations in the future that you may not want to fulfill.