Samuel Oladipupo Essoodee
Former Arsenal star, Emmanuel Adebayor, has shockingly revealed how close he came to taking his own life as a teenager.
The Togo star, forged out a successful career in the English top flight, first arriving with Arsenal in 2006 before going on to play for Manchester City , Tottenham ,Real Madrid and Crystal Palace.
Before joining the Gunners, Adebayor played in France having moved to Europe from Togo as a youngster in a bid to fulfil his dream of becoming a top footballer.
And for the first time, the 35-year-old striker said the pressure of trying to make it at Metz saw him consider suicide.
Speaking to the ‘Daily Mail’, he said: “I was 16. All I wanted to do was help my family out but they put huge pressure on me. I could not cope with it.
“When a family is poor, everyone is poor and there is huge solidarity. People will take a bullet for you. But when one makes it, it is like you owe everyone.
“I remember sitting on my bed one night and thinking, ‘What am I doing here? Nobody’s happy with me, so what is the point of living?’
“There was a pharmacy below my apartment, I bought a packet of tablets.
“They did not want to sell it to me but I said it was for a charity in Togo. I made the preparations, I drank all the water. I was ready to go.
“Then I called my best friend at midnight. He told me not to rush, that I have things to live for.
“‘You have the potential to change Africa. I thought ‘You are a dream-seller and I am not buying any dreams right now.’
“But he took me out of the moment. I thought God must be keeping for something.”
