Arsenal fullback Hector Bellerin has revealed he turned to drinking during his injury nightmare.
The Spaniard spent much of 2019 on the sidelines with injury issues.
Speaking to the Timbsy YouTube channel, Bellerin said: “It was the first time that I had got injured like that, and I had friends and teammates that had gone through it before, I had my family next to me, but I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen to me.
“I talk about an experience when I came back and I wasn’t really training, and I started going out a lot, I started drinking and all this stuff and you know for a footballer that’s not what you’re supposed to say but it’s the truth.
“We have our issues, we have our mental health problems. And when football, which is basically your identity, gets taken out of you, we find it difficult.
“Obviously London is a town that offers a lot of distractions and it’s really easy when you don’t feel you have a responsibility – obviously I knew I had to recover, but I didn’t have to train or play – my mind kind of just went elsewhere.”
