Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye has revealed he battled depression following his debut season in the Premier League.
The Frenchman arrived on Tyneside in 2011 and played a prominent role as Alan Pardew s side exceeded expectations to finish fifth in the top flight.
Despite his success on the field, Cabaye says the gruelling demands of English football and the lack of a winter break left him mentally exhausted going into Euro 2012.
Depression? I am not afraid to say that. It was that, he told L Equipe.
But I was reassured reading the books of Jonny Wilkinson and Rafael Nadal, who both talked about the same thing. They talked about post competition depression and the need to have a break.
Euro 2012 was the first big international competition I had played. It is completely different than what you could experience in daily life with your club.
My season was long in a league where the pace is higher than in Le Championnat (Ligue 1). I started with Newcastle early in July 2011 and finished late in June 2012 and, for the very first time, I didn t have any winter break so then to resume in July 2012, it was very difficult.
Maybe it is difficult to start again after a big competition such as the Euros, but my body didn t allow me to do what I wanted to do.
On a morning when I woke up, I could still feel tiredness. I wanted to think about something else rather than football.
I am lucky to earn a living with my passion, but it was the right moment for a break. So my groin injury at the end of the year was finally not such a bad thing. Maybe that is why I was back earlier than expected.
I asked myself a lot of questions. As long as you didn t experience it (depression) you cannot understand. But I was not worried.
