Having retired from the game six years ago, former French international (five caps) Jérémy Mathieu has not had a happy start to his retirement. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“Things got complicated after my injury at Sporting. I ended my career in 2020, following a cruciate ligament tear. It all came to an abrupt halt,” he explained in an interview with So Foot. At 36, injured and unable to “do much of anything”, Mathieu “fell into a downward spiral”. “I suffered from depression; there’s no point in hiding it,” he reveals.

Regretting that he hadn’t “had time to plan for life after football because of this injury”, the former defender admits to having “brooded for four years” and to having “felt completely lost”, without, however, daring to seek help from anyone to get him through this difficult time.

“I stayed at home round the clock. I’d go out now and then, but never for long. I’d just sit on my sofa, in front of the telly, with my phone. I’d even lost interest in football. I’d watch one half and, if the match was a draw, I’d switch channels. I was going round in circles: I’d get up from the sofa, walk round the house and sigh,” he recalls. For Mathieu, “money means nothing”, unlike people, whom he believes make “all the difference”.