Richarlison has gone through a tough time over the past couple of years during his struggles with mental health, but Emerson Royal says his Spurs teammate is now like a new man.
Richarlison revealed recently that he was close to giving up on football after the World Cup in Qatar and suffered from depression when everything seemed like it was falling apart (ESPN Brasil).
The striker even admitted that he wanted to go home rather than take part in Tottenham training at times, because he didn’t understand the feelings he was experiencing.
Fortunately, Richarlison was strong enough to seek help and has spoken about the transformative effect of therapy in his battle with mental health problems.
He said: “I think the therapist, like it or not, saved me, saved my life. I only thought rubbish … If you need a psychologist, look for one because it’s nice for you to open up like that, for you to be talking to the person.”
Speaking to UOL, Emerson opened up on his experience getting to know Richarlison at Tottenham and the progress the striker has made away from the pitch over the last year.
Emerson said: “Because of this situation, which hurt him, he ended up isolating himself a lot. He didn’t make much room for conversation, but since we play together I tried to get close to him because he’s a good boy and I like him a lot
“He ended up losing that (joy) at the time because of third parties. I told him that he wasn’t going to do any better or worse than anyone else, he had to seek help from someone who understood the subject and who could help him.
“This good initiative came from him and now he’s a new man, he’s very happy, he’s recovering from his injuries and he’s going to return to the national team.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
Mental health is not spoken about enough in football. In general, the football community is years behind society in a number of important topics, which is why we need brave trailblazers like Richarlison to speak out.
Putting your personal mental health struggles in the public domain must feel so vulnerable, but I’m sure Richarlison’s story has helped a great deal of people over the last year.
Well done, Richy!
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