In an interview with the press, Chelsea and Ivory Coast’s striker Didier Drogba outlined how he nearly quit football in 2008.
The reasons he gave were as follows:
The death of this grandmother, with whom he was extremely close. He said that the thoughts of his early childhood played on his mind;
He had to constantly battle against injury;
He had been faced with disciplinary problems; and
There had been question marks over his future at the club.
The thirty-year old striker also said that the club had been unable to offer him much help in overcoming his physical as well as mental problems.
All of this had drained him both physically and mentally as he lost his desire to play. He added that his passion for the game had disappeared.
Drogba said that it has been difficult for him, as most of his friends at the club had left at the end of the season.
He said that he was beginning to find his feet once again with more game-time and the hunger to achieve well is returning.