Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney has admitted that he had some dark moments during his playing career, when he worried that his problems with alcohol could lead to him killing himself or someone else.
The 36-year-old, now manager of Championship side Derby County, has spoken honestly to the BBC about the issues he had with his mental health during his peak years at Man Utd.
Despite long being one of the best footballers on the planet, it seems Rooney had a lot of issues off the pitch that could well have ruined his career and his life in general.
“I knew I needed help, to save myself but also to save my family,” Rooney said.
“Ten, 15 years ago, I couldn’t go into a dressing room and say ‘I’m struggling with alcohol, I’m struggling mental health-wise’. I couldn’t do that.”
He added that he made many “mistakes”, saying: “That could have been girls, it could have been drink-driving, which I’ve done, it could have been killing someone – you could kill yourself – and that’s a bad place to be.”
Rooney burst onto the scene as a youngster at Everton, and very quickly became a star player for England before earning a big-money move to United in 2004.
Speaking about those early years now, Rooney insists he knew straight away that he was already one of the best players in the world.
“Centre backs were scared to go near me,” he said. “They could see physically I could handle myself against them.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m the best player in the world’. I believe, at that time, I was.”